I swear nothing is more charming than to see a young and pretty nun, dressed in white, a sprig of pomegranate blossom behind one ear, leading the orchestra and beating time with all the grace and precision imaginable.įor the concerts Vivaldi wrote some 500 concertos for various solo instruments, or combinations of solo instruments, and string orchestra. The performances are entirely their own and each concert is composed of about forty girls. The girls sing like angels, play the violin, flute, organ, oboe, cello, bassoon – in short no instrument is large enough to frighten them. Under Vivaldi’s direction, these concerts became the talk of Venice, and no foreign visitor left the city without having attended a Vivaldi performance. The schools’ academic costs were heavily subsidized by the proceeds of regular Sunday concerts by the Ospedale’s orchestra and choir, usually but not always performing behind screens to protect the girls’ modesty. The standards of music education at Vivaldi’s school were particularly high. The girls, on the other hand, were cloistered like nuns and trained in music mainly as a way of attracting eligible young men for marriage.

The boys were apprenticed out to Venetian merchants and tradesmen to prepare them to become self-supporting. The schools were attached to hospitals or charitable hostels, and their students were educated and maintained mainly at the state’s expense.

Vivaldi spent 37 years as the director of music at the Ospedale della Pieta, one of four schools in Venice for illegitimate, orphaned and deserted youngsters.

Vivaldi guitar concerto program notes