Travels through Germany, Bohemia, Switzerland, Italy and Lorrain. Vol. 4

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

91

text excerpt

The four principal hospitals in Venice, are, I. SS. Giovanni e Paolo ; 2. Spedale de gl' Incurabili ; 3. S. Lazaro de Mendicanti ; and 4. Spedale della Pietà ; where not only foundlings, but other poor children, and even grown-up persons are taken in. Some of the girls are instructed in music, and attain to great skill not only in singing, but also in playing on the violin, organ, hautboy, theorbo, and other instruments. Every Saturday and Sunday, very fine pieces of music are performed in the churches of these hospitals, which begin about two hours before sun-set. A person gives two or three pence at such times for a chair or convenient seat. The young women, who are the only performers in these concerts, appear in public but twice a year, when they walk abroad with their instructors. They are not permitted to quit the hospital, except it be to be married: and even then it is with difficulty they obtain leave of the hospital, because it is not an easy matter to fill their places ; besides, the care and expence of their education is very considerable. Bologna is the finest voice at present in the Pieta hospital, and Teresia in that of the Mendicanti. The republic allows a salary for a music-master to every one of these four hospitals. And the most celebrated musicians do not think the office beneath their acceptance.

The four principal hospitals in Venice, are, I. SS. Giovanni e Paolo ; 2. Spedale de gl' Incurabili ; 3. S. Lazaro de Mendicanti ; and 4. Spedale della Pietà ; where not only foundlings, but other poor children, and even grown-up persons are taken in. Some of the girls are instructed in music, and attain to great skill not only in singing, but also in playing on the violin, organ, hautboy, theorbo, and other instruments. Every Saturday and Sunday, very fine pieces of music are performed in the churches of these hospitals, which begin about two hours before sun-set. A person gives two or three pence at such times for a chair or convenient seat. The young women, who are the only performers in these concerts, appear in public but twice a year, when they walk abroad with their instructors. They are not permitted to quit the hospital, except it be to be married: and even then it is with difficulty they obtain leave of the hospital, because it is not an easy matter to fill their places ; besides, the care and expence of their education is very considerable. Bologna is the finest voice at present in the Pieta hospital, and Teresia in that of the Mendicanti. The republic allows a salary for a music-master to every one of these four hospitals. And the most celebrated musicians do not think the office beneath their acceptance.

excerpt from 'Travels through Germany, Bohemia, Switzerland, Italy and Lorrain. Vol. 4' pp. 91 (229 words)

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