Some of the (male) interest was clearly voyeuristic, as the girls performed in galleries, cloaked behind metal grills. Public performances took place in chapels and drew travelers from around Europe. There were between 40 and 60 students in a coro. 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. The boys lived separately in the home and learned a trade. The Pietà was one of four ospedali grandi in Venice, and home to nearly a thousand students. 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. In 1703, a 25-year-old Vivaldi was ordained as a priest and joined the Pietà as maestro di violino. 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. Its fame is largely connected to its illustrious resident composer and violin teacher: Antonio Vivaldi. 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. This was 18th-century Venice, and the institution in question was the Ospedale della Pietà, a foundation that cared for abandoned and orphaned children. The government provided financial support, as did private donors. Its members lived together and studied with the leading international composers of the day. 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.
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