Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, hundreds of young girls and women entered Venice's four charitable Ospedali Maggiori to find relief from poverty, sickness, or childhood abandonment. Those who demonstrated musical skill could spend years training and later work among the Ospedali's reputable female musicians known as figlie di coro. In performances, these musicians awed crowds of prestigious visitors, and some became sought-after instructors for daughters of noble families. Yet, the sustained esteem of the figlie di coro depended on the networks of individuals, inside and outside the Ospedali Maggiori, who helped to initiate and solidify the careers of Venice's exceptional female musicians. Found primarily among administrative documents held at the Venetian Archivio di Stato, letters from the figlie di coro and their kinfolk to the patrician men who oversaw the Ospedali Maggiori allow us to track these layered relationships. Family members sent supplications for protection and help for individual musicians, patrons bestowed favors, and patrician administrators interceded as paternal figures. Crucial to the musicians’ success was the cultivation of advantageous connections and the building of personal authority based on their musical accomplishments.

For many figlie di coro the only adult life they ever knew took place within the Ospedali Maggiori.