This book presents for the first time an introductory, contextual study of three centuries of musical activity at the four major charitable foundations of the former Republic of Venice: the ospedali grandi. Berdes provides a comprehensive account of the institutional, social, religious, and civic dimensions of these welfare complexes, with particular reference to their musical subsidiaries, the cori. Involving over 800 professional women musicians, the cori also represent a vast repertory of over 4,000 original works by composers of whom Vivaldi is only the best known--works that are little known today but recognized as key elements in the historical evolution of musical genres.