The Ospedale della Pietà was a convent, orphanage, and music school in Venice. It was a charitable institution for orphans and abandoned girls. Infants could be left at the Pietà via the scaffetta, a window only large enough to admit infants. Not all infants were female, nor were they necessarily orphans. As the ospedali gained increasing attention through the performances of sacred music by their figlie di coro. Formal rules for the training of figlie were carefully drafted and periodically revised. Many of these concerts were given for select audiences consisting of important visitors. As the institution became celebrated, it sometimes received infants related (not always legitimately) to members of the nobility. In the later decades of the Venetian Republic, which collapsed in 1797, it also accepted adolescent music students whose fees were paid by sponsoring foreign courts or dignitaries. Antonio Vivaldi was appointed a violin teacher in 1703 and served in various roles at the ospedele through 1715, and again from 1723 to 1740. Much of Vivaldis sacred vocal and instrumental music was written for performance at the Pietà by the orchestra and chorus of the resident girls. This is a recording of the Gloria as it may have been performed in Vivaldi’s time, with an all female chorus.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 22:55:20 +0000
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