Vivaldi and His Daughters

Venice in the early 18th century: Corruption and prostitution are rampant, the Carnival reflects the decadent society, opera as a show for the masses is just being invented on the city’s stages. And, in the midst of it all: a red-haired priest named Vivaldi, on his way to his true destiny.

Retracing the composer’s footsteps, Peter Schneider discovers a virtually unknown, magnificent work by the Maestro: His whole life long, the “prete rosso” worked at an orphanage, whose musically talented girls he turned into Europe’s first women’s orchestra. Many of his concerts were written for and performed by them. Peter Schneider shows Vivaldi as a man of his times, who must hold his ground against the suspicions of the Church, but also against his own temptations. His “amicizia” with the young singer Anna Girò ends up tripping him up, even as it is the source of his inspiration.