Customer Reviews

Hidden Voices: The Orphan Musicians of Venice

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All through reading this absorbing historical novel I couldn't help but feel a life-line being thrown out from today back through time. I like to read both historical and contemporary fiction and I particularly enjoy a good novel told from multiple voices where you get to know each character--their differences and similarities as they navigate through the world. While this story was set in the early 1700s I had the wonderful feeling that somehow these could be girls in today's day and age. Why? Because although Luisa, Anetta and Rosalba lived in another time they struggled with the same timeless issues of friendship, identity, and sexuality. I also enjoyed learning about the fascinating world of "orphan musicians"--it felt like a secret mystery I was able to discover.

Who knew that Antonio Vivaldi, the great composer, once dedicated himself to writing and teaching music for an orphanage for girls in Venice? This is perhaps the single biggest draw of the entire book. It opens a venue for one to gain insight to life inside a very musical orphanage. The portrayals of Vivaldi are both endearing and eccentric. The plight of the three girls who are the focus of the story is somewhat depressing towards the end. Neither one of the three seems to end up with the fate she would have chosen. One is cruelly raped, the other is a lesbian with unrequited love, and the third is always separated from the people she loves, including her mother and her lover. The author was clever in making the lesbian character at the same time very maternal, she has a great love for children. Not the usual traits associated with what is often considered a more manly trait. The one probably anybody anybody reading the book most sympathizes with is the poor girl who gets raped. Embued with childish fancies of what love and courtship are like she receives a cruel awakening. Thankfully Vivaldi returns her instrument to her and she is able to eventually make a decent living. To me probably the most poignant part of the story is when her daughter gets placed in the orphan wheel of the orphanage. It is after all, a place where opportunity can be attained for the girls. I thought it too advanced in subject matter for young adults. But for adults, it makes for a quick read. Although, it isn't a fairy tale and the ending is bittersweet.

Eighteenth century composer Vivaldi not only composed beautiful music, but he also worked in an orphanage giving young girls a music education. HIDDEN VOICES is a fictional story based on true events about three girls living in the Ospedale dell Pieta.

Luisa is known for her voice, but she's always looking for the mother who abandoned her. Rosalba is the adventurous one who wants a life outside of the Ospedale walls and dreams of romance. Anetta is the one who takes care of everyone and feels especially protective of Luisa. Together, these girls grow up and help each other through the various obstacles life presents them.

HIDDEN VOICES is a richly detailed historical novel. Each chapter is told from a different point of view and Ms. Collins excels at giving each girl a unique voice. Rosalba was my favorite character in the beginning, but Luisa and Anetta grew on me too throughout the novel. All three grow throughout the story and it's interesting to see how the girls help and rely on each other throughout the way.

A great novel of friendship, HIDDEN VOICES is an engaging historical read, especially for readers with an interest in classical music.

Reviewed by: Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen

he renowned Opsedale della Pieta in Venice takes in abandoned baby girls and teaches them to sing or play an instrument. Though the orphanage cares for their every need and much more, the only thing that truly matters to the hearts of the Pieta girls is finding true love. And for Luisa, Annetta, and Rosalba, real love is far from what they expected.

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I was quite shocked frankly. I had such high hopes that this book was going to be good, but it ended up being rather disappointing and a waste of time. After reading a few pages of the book, my first thought was that it was going to be a loooong week because the book moved so slow. I got exactly halfway through when it happened! The disaster event. Rosalba thought she could just pick a "suitor" and things would act out like a play. Instead she got herself raped and ended up giving another "orphan" back to the Opselade. The book also ended a far cry from "happily ever after", which in this setting, such a thing only happened in plays.
The entire book switched off between the three girls, Luisa, Rosabla, and Annetta, (whew all those Italian girl names all end in "a"!!) which made it rather interesting, but since the story kept dragging on, the character changes didn't really make it any better. Hidden Voices could have been a somewhat nicer story, but the rape details were uncalled for. Either the author was just explaining what could happen to you if you made Rosalba's silly decision, or she was simply just writing about the orphan girl's unhappy endings. I'm sorry to sound this way because an author's book(s) are his masterpiece(s)-no matter how the sad the story is-but I just could not recommend this book.

Genre: Historical, 1700s
Age Group: YA, ages 15+
Recommend? No
Content: Sexual references and rape

Hidden Voices by Pat Lowery Collins


Hidden Voices is the tale of Anetta, Luisa and Rosalba, three orphaned girls; their desires, their failures and successes give life anew to Venice and the music of Antonio Vivaldi.

This book is filled with the power of young love, passion and music. Because of Mrs. Collins' deft characterization skill, as well as my own musical background, I had a hard time putting it down.

The three girls, Anetta, Luisa, Rosalba and several of the lesser characters are written with such telling, pointed dialogue and actions that there was no one in this book who didn't "pop" into real life. Just as important, Baroque Venice also comes alive. See the Punchinello plays, Carnival, the Commedia dell'Arte, consume fritelle and Italy with these girls. Viva Italia.

Was the book perfect? Perhaps not if one prefers a straight forward, genre-esque plot. There's no need to save the world or even Venice in "Hidden Voices." I do not want to give any spoilers, so I will simply say that the hope of requited love is stretched throughout the book for all three characters, though happy ever after is never the point.

Read Hidden Voices and witness a vibrant culture that's not normally the focus of historical novels. You won't be sorry, and when you leave this book behind, you'll say, as I did, "Brava, Maestra. Brava."

Inspired to learn more by a factoid heard on a classical music station - that Antonio Vivaldi wrote concertos to showcase the talents of orphan girls, and hopefully snare husbands for a lucky few - Collins's research resulted in Hidden Voices: The Orphan Musicians of Venice. However this is not so much a story of Vivaldi (although he is an important and often present character) but rather a novel about three fictional girls and their experiences under his tutelage and beyond.

The three main characters - Rosalba, Anetta, and Luisa - are three very different girls with different dreams and experiences, and together their stories make for one much larger whole. At first, the voices of the characters seemed to blend together (in the early chapters I occasionally I had to flick back to see the name at the top of), but as the novel progressed, the girls and their stories became much more distinguished from each other. I have to admit, at first I was not keen on the idea of three narrators all in first person present, but Collins proved to be very adept at writing out a different story arc and direction for each character, but still weaving those arcs and more into one larger story, and sharing such information between the three viewpoints.

Through Rosalba, Anetta, and Luisa Collins vividly describes the lives of the orphan girls living in the orphanage, from how they arrive to the different ways they can leave, and their daily lives in between those two milestones. We are provided glimpses into the beauty of the music and of Venice, but also through the darker sides of living in that time, especially as an orphan. In the novel Collins touches on such subjects as illness, death, abandonment and rape, as well as friendship, community and hope, and, of course, the idea of what family is to those without.

Hidden Voices: The Orphan Musicians of Venice is a lovely written historical novel focusing on original characters to represent so many real people and their experiences, and one that provided me with a new main piece of information, as well as many more smaller pieces.

"Hidden Voices: The Orphan Musicians of Venice," by Pat Lowery Collins, is elegant and lyrical, and a truly fascinating read. Eighteenth-century Venice comes alive as the story follows three musically gifted girls who come of age in a sheltered orphanage under the tutelage of composer Antonio Vivaldi. Rosalba, Anetta and Luisa, all spirited and complex characters, seek love in different ways, their stories unfolding in alternating chapters. Hidden Voices is an intriguing tale of friendship and self-discovery. Highly recommended!