THE FOUR SEASONS

Title page for Juditha Triumphans, an oratorio written by Vivaldi for the Pieta. In THE FOUR SEASONS, Chiaretta sings the part of Abra, Judith's servant

Though 17th century Florentine artist Orazio Gentilleschi was not connected to the Pieta, his painting of a young girl who has put down her violin to play the lute is very much in the spirit of the Pieta. Each musician in the coro was obligated to learn to play at least two instruments.

BEYOND THE BALCONY

A villa on the Brenta Canal. This one, by Andrea Palladio, is the model for those depicted in THE FOUR SEASONS.

Venetian palazzos typically had a huge room running the length of the piano nobile, the main floor used to receive guests. These rooms, known as portegos, were where musicians from the Pieta would have performed.

"They sing like angels, and play violin, flute, organ, hautboy (oboe), violincello, bassoon--in short, there is no instrument so large as to frighten them."

The spectacular flowering of church music represented by the coro of the Pieta came into being out of a long tradition of music in the Catholic Church. Since the early Christian era, the most important parts of the mass have been sung, and by the medieval era other sacred works known as motets were set to music to enhance other parts of the service.

By Vivaldi's time many churches had composers under contract to supply original music for their choirs and, in some cases, orchestras as well. This sublime music elevated the emotional and psychological experience of churchgoing, and provided a means for many composers to support themselves financially through commissions, and to challenge themselves and their peers by writing increasingly majestic and innovative music.

The four major Venetian ospedali were in a perfect position to take advantage of the many excellent composers looking for commissions. Although the Pieta and other places taking in abandoned and orphaned girls taught music originally only as a skill to increase the marriageability of their wards, at some point their administrators realized that the rigid monastic environment provided the discipline, time, and means to develop the exceptional musical talent apparent in some of the girls.

In Venice, music was taken for granted as an essential element of life. Music drifted down the streets and across the canals all hours of the day and night, and being able to sing and play well was important to the baker and gondolier as well as the upper class.

The main motivation for having strong music programs in the ospedali, however, was financial. Paying the bills for these expensive institutions was always a struggle,and at some point it became clear that having a professional choir and orchestra would be an excellent means to make money. Though church services were free, people who wanted to sit down at a concert had to rent a bench, and programs were provided for a small charge. The real source of income, however, came from endowments, bequests, and fees for private concerts coming from wealthy patrons who fell in love with the music, and often with the musicians themselves.

At the Pieta, therefore, it was important to find, among hundreds of girls, a few dozen who could be trained from around the age of eight to play or sing at a professional level. They became figlie di coro, "daughters of the choir." Since men were not allowed inside the Pieta except under very limited circumstances, the figlie di coro largely taught each other. Each figlia from advanced beginner on up had both a teacher and pupils. The names of some of the top musicians, such as Anna Maria della Pieta (a character in THE FOUR SEASONS) were compared favorably in travelers' journals to their male counterparts in the best orchestras of Europe.

The vocal music performed in the chapel was always in Latin, and always based on sacred texts (or in the case of the oratorios, edifying religious stories). By Vivaldi's time, audiences at the masses also expected an orchestral concert after the service. In this way, composers for the Ospedali were able to develop a wider range of skills, particularly in the new musical form, the concerto, which would become one of the lasting legacies of the Baroque era.