Anna dal Violin

Anna Maria dal Violin, also known in adulthood as Anna Maria della Pietà (c. 1696 – 10 August 1782), was an Italian violinist, composer, and teacher, and is regarded as the most outstanding of Antonio Vivaldi's students. Very little information about her personal life has survived, and even her exact date of birth remains uncertain because she was an orphan raised at the Venetian Ospedale della Pietà, a home for foundlings and an institution for girls where residents were trained to become useful members of society. Life there was governed by strict expectations of devotion, modesty, obedience, silence, and industry. The girls were divided into figlie di coro, who studied singing and instruments, and figlie di comun, who learned handicrafts. Anna Maria entered the Ospedale as an infant and around 1706 became one of the figlie di coro, beginning her formal study of the violin.

Her violin teacher at the Ospedale was the renowned composer and violinist Antonio Vivaldi. By the time she was eight, her musical gifts had already attracted the attention of the institution's leaders. Records indicate that a violin was purchased for her on 19 July 1712, and by August of that year she was performing in the church of San Francesco della Vigna. She earned the nickname "dal Violin" because of her exceptional skill. In addition to the violin, she mastered six other instruments, including the viola d'amore, cello, oboe, lute, mandolin, and harpsichord.

Although her promotions came later than those of some of her peers, Anna Maria steadily rose through the ranks of the coro. She was recognized as a maestra by 1720, and on 24 February 1721 became one of the 14 privileged students authorized to teach at the institution. By 1737 she had attained the leading posts of maestra di violino and maestra di coro, effectively serving as concert-mistress and conductor of the Pietà's orchestra. She remained at the Ospedale for her entire life, teaching violin and performing there for more than 60 years. Among her distinguished pupils were Chiara della Pietà, admired by Vivaldi and other noted musicians, and Santa della Pietà.

Anna Maria never performed outside Venice, yet her playing helped draw tourists to hear the Ospedale's orchestra, and despite her cloistered status she achieved something like celebrity in 18th-century Europe. She was considered one of the most talented musicians in the institution's history, and Vivaldi wrote at least 28 concertos specifically for her. Contemporary travelers and critics praised her as one of Europe's finest violin virtuosos: the German traveler Joachim Christoph Nemeitz wrote that "few virtuosos of our sex can compare with her," and an anonymous poet declared that when she played, countless angels dared to hover near. She died in Venice on 10 August 1782, reportedly of a fever and cough, at the remarkable age of about 86.

In 2007, she became the subject of Barbara Quick's novel Vivaldi's Virgins, a fictionalized autobiography loosely based on her life.

Connections

This figure has 1 connection in the Music Lineage catalog.