Violins that Vivaldi used to play at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice on display in Cremona

From May 5 to August 1, 2021, the Violin Museum in Cremona is hosting the exhibition I violini di Vivaldi e le figlie di Choro: curated by Fausto Cacciatori, Deborah Pase and Federico Maria Sardelli, the exhibition aims to reread the figure of Antonio Vivaldi (Venice, 1678 - Vienna, 1741), the period he spent at theOspedale della Pietà in Venice and more baroque music in general through the instruments chosen and used by the “red priest” and the girls and young women of the Hospital, where Vivaldi worked from 1703 to 1740 first as violin master and then as concertmaster, thus also dealing with the choice and purchase of musical instruments. The Ospedale della Pietà assisted abandoned girls, who received a high level of musical training within it: the most talented young girls were thus initiated into singing and the study of various instruments. At the time Vivaldi worked at the hospital, the institute bought more than fifty instruments, many of which are part of the collection, which boasts some pieces of the highest historical value, made by famous luthiers, such as two cellos by Matteo Goffriller and a violin by Pietro Guarneri.

The collection is recognized as a very rare ensemble of “Baroque” instruments from a single, ancient Musical Chapel and some of them unmodified for modern performance. Almost all of the instruments ceased continuous use in the late 18th century, when the violin had not yet completed its full evolutionary course, so most are still in their original state. The collection of the Pieta Institute is thus presented as a great source of information on string instruments of the Venetian and German school, from the late 18th century, from which scholars can gain valuable insights and knowledge. The instruments are presented after an intensive campaign of study, conservation and restoration by the Violin Museum, the Master’s Degree Course in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage at the University of Pavia, and Cr.Forma.

In addition to the violins from the Pieta Hospital, the exhibition also displays documents, images and objects that will allow visitors to retrace the history of the institute, a place of hospitality at the time that was very modern and unique in Europe, a laboratory of education and emancipation. In particular, the “Daughters of Choro” were esteemed choristers and musicians, who also performed in public. The exhibition recounts, albeit in hints, their stories: abandoned as infants in the “scafetta,” a place that housed the little ones cared for in the Ospedale della Pietà, the “Putte del Choro” were selected for their musical talent and instructed by famous masters such as Francesco Gasparini and Antonio Vivaldi. Just thinking about the technical characteristics of his own pupils, Vivaldi personally chose violins for the Daughters of Choro such as Zanetta, Marcolina and Susanna. The Putte del Choro during concerts performed from the cantorie, concealed by the dense wrought-iron weave of the grates with which they were decorated, which made their faces invisible to the audience. Many of them became famous and acclaimed performers, impressing with their bravura foreign chroniclers and travelers who praised their virtuosity. “That of the four hospitals where I go most often and where I am most amused,” wrote the man of letters and traveler Charles De Brosses in 1739, “is the Hospital of the Pieta; this is also the first for the perfection of the orchestra. What rigor in execution!”(read more about the history of the young women of the Pieta Hospital here).

The exhibition Vivaldi’s Violins and the Daughters of Choro is sponsored by the Violin Museum Foundation and the Santa Maria della Pietà Provincial Children’s Institute of Venice, in collaboration with the Cultural District of Violin Making in Cremona and Michelangelo Foundation, with contributions from the Region of Lombardy and the Cariplo Foundation.

“Regione Lombardia,” says Stefano Bruno Galli, Councillor for Autonomy and Culture of the Lombardy Region, “has promoted and supported the implementation of integrated cultural development projects in the territory, adopting the tool of Integrated Plans for Culture, in collaboration with Fondazione Cariplo and Unioncamere, through which it intends to promote strategic cultural planning in integrated and multi-sectoral forms that require coordination between public and private entities. At the end of 2020, the final ranking of the CIPs selected by the region was published (a total of 14 out of 54 applicants), with an investment of more than 12 million euros. THis exhibition is one of the actions of the Integrated Plan of Culture ’Baroque Paths between Music and Violin Making in Cremona’ funded by the Lombardy Region to revive the role of culture as an element of development for territories. In this Plan, which involves an active public-private partnership on the theme of the link between Baroque music and violin-making know-how, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2012, the Lombardy Region saw an innovative tool for the management and coordination of cultural policies in the Cremona area. Integrated Culture Plans can be a great lever for restarting and set the standard at the national and European level. The tomorrow of cultural policies will be determined by the perspective of integrated enhancement of territorial cultural offerings. The revitalization of culture, at the end of the pandemic season, will necessarily have to place itself in terms of attractiveness: since we will have to forget about pre-Covid cultural tourism for a long time, it is clear that it will be necessary to work significantly on domestic demand. The goal is to bring a citizen back to the same place of culture again and again, and that means always offering something new and different while enhancing one’s heritage. This is the challenge to overcome.”

"It is exciting to reopen the Museum after a long lockdown with the exhibition The Violins of Vivaldi and the Daughters of Choro," stresses Virginia Villa, Director of the Antonio Stradivari Violin Museum Foundation. “Even in the toughest months, in fact, the work of study, research and restoration continued: a commitment that has seen the Museum and the Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, under the guidance of the two conservators, the Master’s Degree Course in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage of the University of Pavia and Cr.Forma work side by side. Today we admire the result of this competition of skills, talents, passions, determination. Alongside the instruments we tell the stories of the Daughters of Choro, their desire for emancipation through education in music. Their message is as relevant as ever. The closure of museums deprived us of confrontation with art, now it is good to be able to return to visit the halls and collections with a renewed awareness of how fundamental the cultural experience is in the life of a community and each of us. In the Pieta Hospital’s welfare strategy, musical activity became an opportunity for social redemption and full artistic fulfillment, offered to the most talented female assistants. The exhibition itinerary will allow visitors to immerse themselves in the history and atmosphere of this ancient Venetian institution, accompanying them to discover the combination of care for abandoned children and fervent cultural activity,” says Lulzim Ajazi, Director of the Provincial Institute for Children Santa Maria della Pietà."

Pictured: Matteo Goffriller, Cello from 1708 (Venice, Provincial Institute for Children “Santa Maria della Pietà”)

Violins that Vivaldi used to play at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice on display in Cremona

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