Hidden Voices: The Orphan Musicians of Venice (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Hidden Voices: The Orphan Musicians of Venice Elizabeth Bush Collins, Pat Lowery . Hidden Voices: The Orphan Musicians of Venice. Candlewick, 2009345 p. ISBN 978-0-7636-3917-4$17.99 R Gr. 8-12 In this involving period piece, three musically gifted teenage girls under the tutelage of Antonio Vivaldi in the Ospedale della Pietà (a home for abandoned children) must reach decisions on how—or whether—their talents will carry them through adult life. Slowly recovering from an illness, Luisa is afraid her angelic voice may have deserted her, and a brief tryst with a young man she meets while recuperating in the mountains makes her doubt whether a singing career is worth the loss of love. Talented but undisciplined oboist Rosalba naïvely conducts a flirtation with a wigmaker's assistant and is raped; unable to return to the ospedale, she takes up with a band of street musicians until a fortunate intervention by the maestro himself offers her an avenue to a better life. Anetta, whose profound love for Luisa is unrequited, embraces the soothing predictability of school and convent life, and since she knows she will never have her dream life with Luisa, she begins to redirect her aspirations to remaining resident as a teacher and caring for younger orphans, particularly the baby whom Rosalba is forced to abandon at the ospedale. While Vivaldi appears throughout as an avuncular guardian to the girls and a definite catalyst to their development, this is very much a showcase for the three alternating narrators, whose interrelationships and life choices are convincingly established. The backdrop of eighteenth-century Venice is a lavish bonus to a strong coming of age story, and even readers who favor contemporary fiction should find this a satisfying foray into costume drama. Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois