|
|
At the age of 25 Antonio accepted what to any 25 year old male today would be a dream job. He became the music teacher at an all girls orphanage called the Ospedale delle Pieta (the Hospital of Pity or Compassion.) There were four such schools in Venice. It was his job to teach the young girls to play music and write two concertos every month for them to perform. This accounts for the variety of instruments Vivaldi wrote for, since he had to showcase each of the young girl's talents. Judging from the difficulty of the music, these girls, all of them under twenty, possessed considerable talent. Vivaldi must have enjoyed this work since he stayed at the Ospedale off and on for thirty-five years, although his interests in opera and travel constantly drew him away. If it sounds like paradise for a hot, young maestro, take into account this account by Rousseau: "Vespers...are performed in barred-off galleries solely by girls, of whom the oldest is not twenty years of age. I can conceive of nothing as voluptuous, as moving as this music. What grieved me was these accursed grills, which allowed only tones to go through and concealed the angels of lovliness of whom they were worthy. I talked of nothing else. One day I was speaking of it at M. le Blond's. "If you are so curious," he said to me, "to see these little girls, I can easily satisfy you. I am one of the administrators of the house, and I invite you to take a snack with them." When going into the room that contained these coveted beauties, I felt a tremor of love such as I never experienced before. M. le Blond introduced me to one after another of those famous singers whose voices and names were all that were known to me. "Come, Sophie," -- she was horrible. "Come, Cattina," -- she was blind in one eye. "Come, Bettina," -- the smallpox had disfigured her. Scarcely one was without some considerable blemish. Two or three, however looked tolerable; they sang only in the choruses. I was desolate. During the snack, when we teased them, they made merry. Ugliness does not exclude charms, and I found some in them. Finally, my way of looking at them changed so much that I left nearly in love with all these ugly girls."
One very odd element to the performances of these girls was that the audience couldn't see the performers. Screens divided the viewer from the orchestra, the strange religious purpose of which I can only guess at. I'm certain, however, that everyone in the audience returned home believing the orchestra was made up of only the most heavenly beauties imaginable, since their only mental image was that provided by the music being played.
Not all of the girls at the orphanage were orphans. Many of the girls were poor or illegitimate, and some were just unruly types for which the Ospedale was their "reform school". Graduation meant a dowry for each girl, which was to be used for a husband or a nunnery. As Vivaldi grew in popularity, so did the fame of his all-female orchestra. The Ospedale's soon became more popular than the churches (though not as popular as the operas.) Even the pupils made names for themselves, especially the vocalists. Many of Venice's elite began to send their daughters to the school to study music. It is said that many noblemen justified this by reasoning their legitimate daughters should get the same quality education as their illegitimate ones. The girls performed in groups of up to forty players and performed every Saturday, Sunday, and on holidays.
The Ospedale review board had to renew Vivaldi's position every year. His initial employment at the school lasted six years before he was voted out in 1709. There was nothing scandalous behind this. It has been said that the board was upset with his continued refusal to say mass. He had apparently been afflicted with asthma since birth, which made the long religious ceremony difficult for him and he had to step down from the pulpit several times before calling it quits. Vivaldi had also been pursuing several outside interests at the time and probably was ready to live outside of Venice for a while. Another possible reason for his dismissal was that the fame he had earned at the Ospedale also promised to earn him a lot of money. Vivaldi may have wanted to split his interests (they permitted him an occasional leave of absence for travel) and the Ospedale wanted a full time worker, so they let him go. Proof that there was no ill will shows in the fact that they whole-heartedly accepted him back when he returned to Venice in 1711 at 60 ducats a year, and they allowed him to devote his time to other projects.
Vivaldi was not the only music teacher at the school. There were others that specialized in different instruments and since Vivaldi wrote for so many, it seems likely they gave Vivaldi advice on the specifics of each one. It is known that Ludwig Erdman and Ignaz Siber taught at the school, both German experts on the oboe. Siber was hired again as an expert on the transverse flute, a new instrument at the time. Outside of the school there were several musical Venetians, among them the famous Tomaso Albinoni, seven years Vivaldi's senior, who was especially influential in Vivaldi's opus 4, La Stravaganza. Archangelo Corelli of Rome also influenced Vivaldi greatly. 25 years older than Vivaldi, he was a well established composer in Roman circles. Other influences have been attributed to Giuseppe Valentini, three years younger than Vivaldi and working in Rome.