From Ospedale to Concordia

In 1703 Antonio Vivaldi entered the service of the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. The son of a musician, he was 25 years young and had just been ordained a priest. All the works of this Easter concert were written by Vivaldi for the Ospedale – an orphanage that had long been an institution in Venice, both in the city’s charitable network and in its musical life. Girls grew up here who had been placed as infants in the “culla segreta”, the baby hatch.

Talented pupils received a musical education of high quality, because the institution was financed, among other things, by the concerts that took place there. This is also why highly qualified young musicians were employed: one of Vivaldi’s predecessors was Johann Rosenmüller, one of his successors Nicola Porpora. The orphanage’s concerts were celebrated internationally, and music connoisseurs and lovers travelled to Venice for them. Some of the young women stayed for the rest of their lives – first as pupils, then as respected teachers and musicians. It is easy to guess what fate would have awaited them without the “culla segreta”.

The title of the concert reaches into the present: the 2017 Easter concert was linked to a donation collection for CONCORDIA Social Projects, which cares for homeless children and young people in parts of Eastern Europe. Music once written for the orphanage in Venice thus created a sense of home for children of our time. The performers were Hanna Herfurtner, Joowon Chung and Andreas Scholl with the Bachchor Salzburg and the Bach Consort Wien under Rubén Dubrovsky.