The book aims to fill a void in musical historiography. This void is
almost inexplicable in the light of the fame acquired in the eighteenth
century by the all-female cori of the four great ospedali of Venice on account of the excellence of their performance and their
artistic collaboration with several leading composers. The consultation
of numerous sources and, in particular, systematic archival research
have allowed the author to reconstruct, with an abundance of hitherto
unpublished details, the context in which this music was cultivated.
Standing at the centre of this activity are the figlie di coro, whose
training
under singing and instrumental teachers, discipline, careers and,
especially, repertory are described. The second part of the book
recounts the histories of the individual cori.
An attached CD-ROM contains chronologies of performances, lists of
maestri, transcriptions of archival documents, extracts from
contemporary journals and diaries, the texts of motets and oratorios,
eye-witness accounts by foreign travellers and illustrations.

Information
e-mail: ufficio.editoriale@cini.it