THE FOUR SEASONS

With music spilling out from a concert in the chapel, two sisters are abandoned in the alley outside the Ospedale della Pietá, Venice's world-famous foundling hospital and musical academy.

High-spirited and rebellious, Chiaretta develops a singing voice that catapults her to early fame, leaving her with the agonizing choice between an aristocratic marriage and life as a musician in the coro of the Pieta.

Maddalena's path to renown is quieter and more difficult, but when the violin teacher and concert master Antonio Vivaldi notices her deep love for the violin, they begin a musical relationship in which each challenges the other to greater heights.

On the balcony of the Pieta,the cloister and the outside world intersect, leading the reader back into quiet lace workshops, crowded wards, and busy rehearsal rooms; and outward into the dangerous, exotic and colorful world of Baroque Venice.

Synopsis

THE FOUR SEASONS is a tumultous story of women discovering the complexities of their passions and the deep bonds of love, in a setting where music and an extraordinary city become central characters in and of themselves.