Students of Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi is one of the more memorable names that the average person could probably either recall upon inquiry, or at least recognize upon mention. Born in 1678, he was trained in the priesthood, (most likely as a method to gain access to education) and once ordained in 1703, promptly abandoned the cloth to become a music teacher at an orphanage for girls. As noble as this may seem, orphanage is a rather generous term for the institute of which he was appointed. The Ospedale della Pietà may have originally been a place of safety for abandoned infants, by the 1700’s it was a school for young girls, many of whom were the illegitimate children of royals as a result of their secret relationships with various mistresses. Vivaldi, and many other highly skilled musicians during, before and after his appointment trained some of the most talented, all-women orchestras in Europe.
Records are scattered and rare of the lives of these virtuosos. There are a few notable accounts of Anna Maria della Pietà and her pupil Chiara della Pietà in various writings and historical archives, but little record remains of their personal accounts, accomplishments, and achievements. One book of note is Vivaldi’s Virgins, by Barbara Quick. Her story is from Anne’s perspective and is a fascinating imagining of what her life may have been like. Karla Walker has a great write-up in her research on Anna, (read it here) and there are a few other scattered memoirs, pieces of fiction, and romanticized historical records of a handful of other performers. For the most part, their accomplishments are noted as part of Vivaldi’s legacy, and I would likely not know anything about them had I not investigated his background deeper as part of a personal curiosity while studying his sonatas for the cello.
Cecilia Reclaimed: Feminist Perspectives on Gender and Music by Susan C. Cook reviews some reasons why the women at the Ospedale della Pieta are not a bigger part of the conversation for renaissance musicians. In a review of her essays, Claudia McDonald writes that the women there sustained a vital part of the musical culture, but were revered as “pious angels,” suggesting that the stigma in those times often placed women outside of the framing of profession the way their male counterparts were perceived. Women were often confined to domestic roles, and when it came to performance, their skills were designated for household entertainment. While this exception at the Ospedale not only stands out, but proves otherwise, it is still placed in the realm of exception in the historical record. In Susan Cook’s writings, on page 136, she notes of Frederic Christian, the Prince-Elector of Saxony, admitted in 1740, “What makes the Pietà so famous is not just that all of the instrumentalists are truly excellent musicians, but an even rarer fact, which is that all of the instruments are being played by females without any males in the ensemble at all.”
The 1700s is a profound period in history, where revolutions took place in several large nations, where composers were captivated by the notions of democracy and freedom, and where many groups that experienced tyranny at the hands of oppressive forces wrote, and artists performed volumes of compositions dedicated to their struggles. Of the Black, Native American, and even colonial perspectives, some of the most glorious voices came from the forgotten children of nobles in an orphanage in Italy. The students of Vivaldi and his contemporaries played some of the most impressive performances of their time, and the women of the Ospedale della Pieta should not be forgotten. While Chiara della Pietà, Anna Maria della Pietà, Michielina della Pietà, Santa della Pietà, Agata della Pietà, Vincenta Da Ponte, Anna Bon, Maddalena Laura Sirmen, Regina Strinasacchi, Candida della Pietà are some of the only remembered in the record, all of the young women who got a chance to sing, perform, and learn at the hands of great masters like Vivaldi can be remembered in the preserved compositions from their archives.
Here is one of the pieces that Anne most likely played. We can only speculate how she may have invoked its beauty. Enjoy Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in B Minor, RV 387: I. Allegro.