Anna Maria della Pieta. Chances are you’ve heard of Antonio Vivaldi, but you’ve never heard of Anna Maria or her fellow female orphans at the Ospedale della Pieta, which in 18th century Venice boasted the greatest orchestra in the world. Without these ridiculously talented girls and women, The Four Seasons might not exist.
Harriet Constable’s debut historical fiction, The Instrumentalist, is the story of Anna Maria, Vivaldi’s favourite student and violin prodigy, shining a light on the women and girls we should have been talking about for the last 300 years.
The Instrumentalist is published by Bloomsbury on August 15.
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