?- fl 1725–1750 - after 1774

Italian composer, singer and violinist.
She was a foundling admitted in infancy to the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice.
From early childhood she received a thorough musical education in the coro (music school), and was a contralto soloist, violinist and composer during the tenures of Giovanni Porta, Nicola Porpora, and Andrea Bernasconi.
She studied the violin under the maestra Anna Maria della Pietà, succeeded her as director of the orchestra in about 1740, and performed at least six of the violin concertos Vivaldi composed for Anna Maria.
Her setting of the Vespers Psalm cxiii Laudate pueri à 4 in D.

Bibliography:

D. Arnold and E. Arnold: The Oratorio in Venice (London, 1986)
G. Rostirolla: ‘L’organizzazione musicale nell’Ospedale veneziano della Pietà al tempo di Vivaldi’ (1979)
M.F. Tiepolo: Vivaldi e l’ambiente musicale veneziano: mostra documentaria (Venice, 1978)
M.A. Zorzi: ‘Saggio di bibliografia sugli oratorii sacri eseguit a Venezia’, Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia, IV (Rome, 1930); V (Rome, 1931); VI (Rome, 1932); VII (Rome, 1933)
J.L. Baldauf-Berdes: Women Musicians of Venice: Musical Foundations, 1525–1855 (Oxford, 1993)
Grove Music Online: www.oxfordmusiconline.com

Author:

Jane L. Berdes