Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Entertainment
20
Collegium Ducale
LIVE PERFORMANCE
Spend a perfectly enjoyable evening in prison with this six-member chamber or-
chestra, whose grace notes in Bach and Albinoni performances escape through the
high, barred windows of the converted cell. Opera singers occasionally perform
arias with the group, which can get loud in the reverberating stone chamber -
bring earplugs for sensitive ears. (
041 98 42 52;
www.collegiumducale.com
;
Palazzo delle
Prigioni; adult/reduced €25/20;
shows start 9pm;
San Zaccaria)
Understand
Vivaldi's Orphan Orchestras
Over the centuries, Venetian musicians developed a reputation for playing music as
though their lives depended on it - which at times wasn't far from the truth. With
shrinking 17th-century trade revenues, the state took the quixotic step of underwriting
musical education for orphan girls, and the investment yielded unfathomable returns.
Among the maestri hired to conduct orphan-girl orchestras was Antonio Vivaldi
(1678-1741), whose 30-year tenure yielded hundreds of concertos and popularised
Venetian baroque music across Europe. Visitors spread word of extraordinary per-
formances by orphan girls, and the city became a magnet for novelty-seeking,
moneyed socialites.
Modern visitors to Venice can still see music and opera performed in the same ven-
041
522 21 71;
www.pietavenezia.org
; Riva degli Schiavoni; adult/reduced €25/20; concerts 8.30pm;
Pietà)
, the
ospedaletto
(orphanage) where Vivaldi was the musical director.
