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Loading... Vivaldi's Virgins: A Novelby Barbara Quick
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Better story than The Four Seasons - 'feels' more historically accurate, intriguing without romantising too much. The story of Anna Maria dal Violin's life at the Pieta, home for abondonned girls who contribute to the up0keepof the institution by honing extraordinary musical skills. Vivaldi composes for them and they remain cloistered which adds mystery and allure. (  ) jumpingjacks | Aug 13, 2009 |  [Note to self: Avoid any book written by an author who wears a flower in her hair in the cover photo.] The comparison to Girl with a Pearl Earring is greatly exaggerated! I was disappointed in this book--too much adolescent angst, too little Vivaldi and Venice. I also found the writing style rather precious, and device of the letters to a nonexistent mother just didn't work for me. Maybe it gets better, but I gave up on it halfway through. (  ) Cariola | Jun 15, 2009 | I love Vivaldi's music "the Four seasons" but I know nothing of the life of the man. The main character of the book Anna Maria dal Violin is a real person - a gifted musician of the time and this is her story. With this book I do not want to give away too much of the story for those who may be enticed to read it. But a little ---- Anna Maria was abandoned as an infant and became one of the elite musicians living in the foundling home where Vivaldi "the red priest" was maestro and composer. Anna has no idea who her mother is and the book is held together with letters that she writes to her mother (sister Laura suggested she did this) hoping that she will receive them and that one day she will find out who she is. The great thing about reading is that it can take you into a completely different world and evoke the atmosphere of the time and place and I enjoyed the book for this very reason. (  ) kiwifortyniner | Feb 10, 2009 | The world of the Pieta is one of great secrecy. To the outside world they appear to be pure, innocent virgins living a sheltered life of chastity and musical brilliance. But behind the doors of the convent, the girls scheme to attend forbidden operas and have secret liaisons with lovers. As Anna Maria’s friends are married off and she is left behind, her search for her mother intensifies and (review continued here.) ( ) valkylee | Oct 30, 2008 | A poignant story of a young 'figlie di coro', or daughter of the choir, who is a student of Maestro Vivaldi in 1700s Venice. Anna Maria was abandoned as an infant and given to a foundling home, as a young girl her musical talent is revealed and becomes a student of Antonio Vivaldi. Prohibited from engaging in life outside the foundling home she struggles between her talent for the violin and a desire for freedom, and as she grows she is faced with difficult choices and tests of faith in herself, as she tries to discover her destiny and who her family is. An eloquent picture into what life would have been like as one of Vivaldi's virgins. See more of my reviews at http://myobsessionwithbooks.blogspot.... ( ) nicchic | Oct 21, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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In this enthralling new novel, Barbara Quick re-creates eighteenth-century Venice at the height of its splendor and decadence. A story of longing and intrigue, half-told truths and toxic lies, Vivaldi's Virgins unfolds through the eyes of Anna Maria dal Violin, one of the elite musicians cloistered in the foundling home where Antonio Vivaldi—known as the Red Priest of Venice—is maestro and composer.
Fourteen-year-old Anna Maria, abandoned at the Ospedale della Pietà as an infant, is determined to find out who she is and where she came from. Her quest takes her beyond the cloister walls into the complex tapestry of Venetian society; from the impoverished alleyways of the Jewish Ghetto to a masked ball in the company of a king; from the passionate communal life of adolescent girls competing for their maestro's favor to the larger-than-life world of music and spectacle that kept the citizens of a dying republic in thrall. In this world, where for fully half the year the entire city is masked and cloaked in the anonymity of Carnival, nothing is as it appears to be.
A virtuoso performance in the tradition of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vivaldi's Virgins is a fascinating glimpse inside the source of Vivaldi's musical legacy, interwoven with the gripping story of a remarkable young woman's coming-of-age in a deliciously evocative time and place.
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:55 -0400)
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