Agata della Pietà (24 March 1712 - 17 October 1769) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, singer, and teacher of music at the Venetian charitable institution known as the

Ospedale della Pietà The Ospedale della Pietà was a convent, orphanage, and music school in Venice. Like other Venetian ''ospedali'', the Pietà was first established as a hospice for the needy. A group of Venetian nuns, called the Consorelle di Santa Maria dell’Um ...

. A

foundling Foundling or The Foundling may refer to: Places * Foundling hospital, an institution where abandoned children were cared for ** Foundling Hospital, Dublin, founded 1704 ** Foundling Hospital, Cork, founded 1737 ** Foundling Hospital, founded 17 ...

admitted in infancy to the

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, she received thorough musical training starting in her childhood through the instruction of an older woman named Apollonia, who was also top soprano vocalist for the Ospedale. After years of training, Agata became a performing member in the institution's musical ensembles, called the ''coro''; she later became a

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

soloist, singing teacher, and administrator. She is known to have been the soloist in

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s commissioned from

Giovanni Porta Giovanni Porta (c. 1675 – 21 June 1755) was an Italian opera composer. His opera '' Argippo'', to a libretto by Domenico Lalli, was premiered in Venice in 1717.Freeman, Daniel E. (1992)''The Opera Theater of Count Franz Anton Von Sporck ...

and

Andrea Bernasconi Andrea Bernasconi (c. 1706 – 24 January 1784) was an Italian composer. He began his career in his native country as a composer of operas. In 1755 he was appointed to the post of ''Kapellmeister'' at the Bavarian court in Munich where he ...

, in whose manuscripts she is mentioned by name; she is also mentioned in an

anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

verse tribute to musicians of the Pietà ''cori'' which dates to around 1740. Agata della Pietà is known to have written several musical compositions, including a setting of

Psalm 134 Psalm 134 is the 134th psalm from the Book of Psalms, a part of the Tanakh, Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Behold, bless ye the , all ye servants of the ". Its Latin title is "Ec ...

''Ecce nunc'' for

compline Compline ( ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer liturgy (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English wor ...

. Harpsichordist, Elizabeth Anderson completed a reconstruction of this work in 2022 and it was first performed by the Australian Chamber Choir in Melbourne in May 2022. Other known compositions are two Marian antiphons ''Regina Caeli'' and ''Salve Regina'' in the style of solo motets, as well as a solo motet titled '' Novo aprili'' in F (inscribed to one "Louisa"); only parts of these compositions survive today, although they demonstrate that Agata knew standard levels of composition in her time, including advanced techniques and professional levels of musicianship that equaled her contemporaries. Along with Michielina and

Santa della Pietà Santa (also known as Sanza or Samaritana) della Pietà (''fl. ca.'' 1725 – ''ca.'' 1750, died after 1774) was an Italian singer, composer, and violinist. She grew up as a foundling in the Ospedale della Pietà, where she received a full musical ...

, Agata della Pietà was one of at least three foundlings of the Ospedale known to have become a composer. Agata was held at high esteem within the Ospedale della Pietà until the end of her life. She helped maintain the institution's musical collections, she taught several younger women to high levels of music, and she was eventually raised to the position of Prioress (''Priora''), or head of the women's section of the institution, in her fifties. She died at the age of 56, on 7 October 1769.Vanessa Tonelli, "Le Figlie di Coro: Women's Musical Education and Performance at the Venetian Ospedali Maggiori," (PhD Dissertation, Northwestern University, 2022), 244-257.

References

*Berdes, Jane L. "Della Pietà, Agata (''fl'' Venice, c. 1800). Italian singer, teacher and composer." The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers.

Julie Anne Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

and

Rhian Samuel Rhian Samuel (born Aberdare, Wales, 1944) is a Welsh composer who resided in the USA for many years. She has composed over 140 published works, including orchestral, chamber, vocal, and choral music. She now divides her time between mid-Wales a ...

, eds.

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

;

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995. p. 138. *Bertil van Boer, Historical Dictionary of Music of the Classical Period Scarecrow Press, 2012, p. 155 * Vanessa Tonell
"Le Figlie di Coro: Women's Musical Education and Performance at the Venetian Ospedali Maggiori."
PhD Dissertation. Northwestern University, 2022. {{DEFAULTSORT:Della Pieta, Agata Italian women classical composers Musicians from the Republic of Venice 18th-century Italian composers 18th-century Italian women composers 1712 births 1769 deaths