Vivaldi's Virgins by Barbara Quick (2008, Paperback, Reprint)

This book is more about the virgins than Antonio Vivaldi. However, it brings much of the history surrounding Vivaldi's turbulent career into focus. The early part of the novel is interspersed with letters to the (unknown identity) of one Anna Maria de Violin, who actually existed in history as a member of the "figlia de coro" in the "Ospidella della Pieta", the orphanage where Venice's supposedly "unwanted" maidens would be taught to run the gamut of musicianship on their chosen instruments.
Notwithstanding the fact that Anna Maria was put through many trials under the administration of the Pieta, where the inmates walked in fear of "La Befana", (an authority figure who has come up through the ranks like the rest of them), we are taken along "for the ride" on many adventures where Anna Maria manages to escape from the confines of La Pieta long enough to have fun playing her violin for people who really show their appreciation for this, (and the realism is nail-biting at times.) We visit the Jewish Ghetto, where the people there possess a healthy respect for the police of the Inquisition, (the “muscle” of the Catholic Church of Italy of the time) but they don't exactly live in fear of them.
The early part of the book is interspersed with letters to Anna Maria's mother, which she hopes will some day get delivered to the mother she has never known. This is an interesting device that Barbara Quick has used, to really come to terms with Anna Maria's true feelings and we are immediately aware of her hopes and fears, her tears and her joys as she faces the somewhat uncertain lifestyle living in the Pieta.
Also, this is a novel where the primary focus is on teenage orphan girls, and so we are exposed rather to the "seamier" side of their existence, but which, although portrayed with much realism, it is treated with a great deal of sensitivity. Contrast this with a gentle, and brilliant composer, the figure of Antonio Vivaldi himself, and you have the somewhat complex arena where the story of this brave young woman plays itself out against the historic backdrop of eighteenth century Venice.
Barbara Quick has written an enjoyable story here, albeit much more about the inmates of La Pieta than the music of Vivaldi. However, there are some memorable scenes where we are entertained by the likes of contemporaneous composers such as Scarlatti and Handel along with Vivaldi and his "figlie de coro". Anna Maria de Violin herself hails from a really mixed background, part Jewish, and this being reason to be banished to a Ghetto, gives rise to some interesting situations. Vivaldi is supportive of Anna Maria at all times, and the sense of musicianship is kept prominent always. Even at the end of the story where she goes to the burial grounds of the Lido, the concept of musical history is brought into focus when she says: "No matter how well I manage to play, my playing will be forgotten when all those who have heard me have died." This comment will always be a sharp reminder of the transient way that people lived in those dark ages, and a remarkable feat of history, that so much of the music is still played regularly today, some two and a half centuries after Vivaldi's death!
I would have liked to see more of Vivaldi’s music in the novel, but that is purely a personal feeling.
Barbara Quick includes historical background at the end of the novel, also making interesting reading.