Together they traveled in Lotharingia (which had been part of Germany since 1870/71), embarking on a project to collect the folk music of the region. Pinck documented the lyrics and Schwind wrote down the melodies of the folk songs they came across. In 1918 she first made contact with Corry de Rijk. They discovered a shared enthusiasm for ancient music, and over the next few decades toured Europe extensively in pursuit of their interest. The women were friendly with the princesses of the von Wied family, as a result of which many aristocratic doors were opened to them across Germany, Austria and Italy, where Schwind and de Rijk gave their "Musica Antiqua" concerts together, sometimes privately and sometimes in public. One high point was a performance at Huis Doorn, home to the exiled German emperor. Another, a little later, took place in Rome in front of the Pope. At the same time Schwind maintained her contacts in her home region, the Saarland, where locally she acquired the status of a minor celebrity. During 1935 she was back home, campaigning prominently in the referendum campaign in favour of reunification. In 1939 she went into exile in Ticino. Her music was no longer in favour with the authorities, and there was a concern that her Dutch partner might face arrest in Germany. During the war years she lived on in Switzerland in relative poverty. Friends provided accommodation and also, sometimes, food. The concerts became infrequent. After 1945 Schwind remained in Ticino. Within the canton she moved house several times between 1945 and 1953, her material circumstances evidently improving again, little by little. There was a series of concerts in London in 1953. In 1954 there came a parting of the ways with Conny de Rijk, but she continued to give musical performances with other accompanists mostly, now, in southern Germany. The intervention of friends enabled her to relocate again, in 1955, to the "Casa Pineta" ("loosely: "House surrounded by pine trees"") at Ronco sopra Ascona, and in 1957 the house was acquired on her behalf by a Mrs. Johanna Becker from Saarbrücken. It was here, on the shore of Lake Maggiore, that she would live out the rest of her life. In 1957 she teamed up with the feminist writer Ilse Reicke, and the two of them took to giving "house concerts" in the "Casa Pineta". Although there is mention of Olga Schwind having "retired" in 1955, other sources suggest that she was still undertaking "Musica Antiqua" winter concert tours, at least as far as southern Germany, during the later 1950s.