Admired Vivaldi’s music, died in October 1740 after eating poisonous mushrooms. The new rulers, Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen, were busy with political problems involving Prussia, and showed no interest in Vivaldi. The mystery of Anna Anna Giraud (Giro) was an opera singer who made her debut in 1725. In 172O Vivaldi returned to Venice where he again staged new operas written by himself in the Teatro Sant' Angelo. In Mantua he had made the acquaintance of the singer Anna Giraud (or Giro), who had moved in to live with him.
There was a time and place when the hot ticket in classical music was an all-female orchestra led by female conductors and featuring female soloists. Its members lived together and studied with the leading international composers of the day. The government provided financial support, as did private donors.
Vivaldi Anna Giro
This was 18th-century Venice, and the institution in question was the Ospedale della Pietà, a foundation that cared for abandoned and orphaned children. Because there is nothing else quite like in the history of music, the Pietà has been the subject of considerable fascination, chronicled in movies, novels, and on recordings.
Its fame is largely connected to its illustrious resident composer and violin teacher: Antonio Vivaldi. The ‘Red Priest’ was affiliated with the Pietà for much of his adult life, and though his tenure had its troubles — he could be strong-willed, flighty and perhaps a bit suspect — the fruits of his legacy are numerous and include oratorios, sonatas and concertos for violin, cello, flute, oboe, bassoon and mandolin.
Who Were the Pietà Students?
In 1703, a 25-year-old Vivaldi was ordained as a priest and joined the Pietà as maestro di violino. Fits of coughing, likely due to asthma, had forced him to give up celebrating Mass, but the Pietà held a liturgical function through its performances.
Anna Giro Vivaldi Biography
The Pietà was one of four ospedali grandi in Venice, and home to nearly a thousand students. The boys lived separately in the home and learned a trade. The girls studied music, and the most accomplished were placed in a special class — the figlie di coro, (daughters of the choir) — where they could attain a certain celebrity and, if lucky, marriage offers from the nobility.
Eyewitness Reports
Anna Giro Vivaldi Bio
There were between 40 and 60 students in a coro. Public performances took place in chapels and drew travelers from around Europe. Some of the (male) interest was clearly voyeuristic, as the girls performed in galleries, cloaked behind metal grills.
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