Product Description

In glittering 18th-century Venice, music and love are prized above all else--and for two sisters coming of age, the city's passions blend in intoxicating ways.

Chiaretta and Maddalena are as different as night and day. The two sisters were abandoned as babies on the steps of the Ospedale della Pietá, Venice's world-famous foundling hospital and musical academy. High-spirited and rebellious, Chiaretta marries into a great aristocratic Venetian family and eventually becomes one of the most powerful women in Venice. Maddalena becomes a violin virtuoso and Antonio Vivaldi's muse. The Four Seasons is a rich, literary imagination of the world of 18th-century Venice and the lives and loves of two extraordinary women.

Praise for THE FOUR SEASONS

"Pop Vivaldi's masterpiece into the CD player, brew a pot of tea, and prepare to relinquish the rest of your afternoon. Corona brings Venice and Vivaldi to life, delivering a stirring story of love, ambition, and music that will keep you reading long after the last note of the concerto has ended."
--Lauren Willig, author of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

"Corona does a magnificent job of showing us the violent contradictions of life in 18th-century Venice, through the eyes of two musically gifted orphan sisters. Their relationships with music and particularly with the complex, enigmatic figure of Antonio Vivaldi are sensitively explored. This novel resists the easy cliché and really succeeds in drawing a world that is both panoramic and intimate."
--Susanne Dunlap, author of Liszt's Kiss

"Music and the dangerous, exquisite world of 18th-century Venice form the setting of this poetic, sensual story of two orphaned sisters. The Four Seasons is a beautifully written addition to the handful of fascinating novels about women and the arts in this most intriguing of cities."
--Stephanie Cowell, author of Marrying Mozart

"Laurel Corona's The Four Seasons is a poignant tale of two sisters, layered exquisitely over the exotic world of brilliant priest/composer Vivaldi and his 18th-century Venice. The result: a vibrant crescendo of hearts and history."
--Karen Harper, author of The Last Boleyn and The First Princess of Wales

"I've never been to Venice, played a violin, or for that matter carried a tune, but after reading The Four Seasons I feel that I've experienced all three, and through them come to a better understanding of the many forms love takes. Brava, Laurel Corona."
--Sally Gunning, author of The Widow's War and Bound

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208351 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-04
• Released on: 2008-11-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781401309268
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
The music students who inspired Vivaldi and the city where they performed the great composer's works come to life in Corona's adult fiction debut. In 1695, three-year-old Maddalena and her infant sister, Chiaretta, are abandoned on the doorstep of Venice's Pieta foundling hospital. Groomed for the Pieta's renowned music academy, Chiaretta, with her pretty blonde looks and beautiful voice, earns a place as celebrated soloist and marriage to an aristocrat. Dark, quiet Maddalena remains in the shadows until she takes up the violin, and a controversial musician and cleric, Antonio Vivaldi, becomes her teacher. Vivaldi represses his romantic feeling for Maddalena and instead writes concert pieces into which they can both put their hearts. According to Corona, women like the orphaned sisters inspired the fervor and brilliance of Vivaldi's music. Fans of Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring will welcome another novel about how a masterpiece is created. Corona shines when showing musicians at work, especially through secondary characters both real (opera star Anna Giro) and imagined (violin teacher Silvia the Rat). (Nov.)
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From Booklist
Corona’s richly historical novel imagines the lives of two sisters born in eighteenth-century Venice and left on the steps of the Ospedale della Pietà, a foundling hospital and musical academy. Each sister develops a breathtaking musical ability—the younger, more vibrant Chiaretta becomes a beautiful soloist; the elder, quieter Maddalena is a master of the violin. As their lives progress, the sisters find themselves on wildly different paths—Chiaretta marries into a wealthy Venetian family, and Maddalena studies under the brilliant composer and contentious priest Antonio Vivaldi, with whom she develops a forbidden attraction. Yet their strong sisterly bond remains indestructible. Corona covers the full spectrum of Venetian life as she crafts alluring scenes of Chiaretta floating on the gondola at her summer villa with her cavaliere servente, sharply contrasting with Maddalena’s modest quarters and chaste way of life. Complete with a pronunciation guide and glossary, this charming, exquisite, and poetic novel embodies the dazzling light of Venice and the heavenly music of the coro as it portrays two orphaned sisters full of ambition, heart, and steadfast love. --Annie McCormick

From the Author
Laurel Corona is the author of more than a dozen middle school books and is a professor of English and Humanities at San Diego City College. She lives in San Diego, California.

Customer Reviews

Involving and convincing
This is the third novel in just over a year dealing with the life of Vivaldi. This one begins by telling the story of two orphans left with the Ospedale della Pieta. These sisters rise in the ranks of the famed female musicians there - Chiaretta as a singer whose looks eventually net her an aristocratic husband and her sister Maddalena as a violinist and favourite of Vivaldi who remains cloistered. The author puts some heat into this latter attachment, on both sides, whilst never quite letting the relationship become a sacking offence. This is suggestive of the composer-priest's much gossiped-of relationship with Anna Giro, but by inventing a new character the author's poetic license can be more fully used. She does this to tell us the story of the two girls' lives, loves and feelings in a way that both feels authentic and keeps us caring. The love and excitement of music are well evoked too. An easy and moving read.

Good story, but a little derivative
The Four Seasons is set against the backdrop of early-18th century Venice. In it, two sisters are sent to the Ospedale della Pieta, a world-famous orphanage and musical academy. Chiaretta and Maddalena are nothing alike: one marries into one of the wealthiest families in Venice, while the other becomes a musical prodigy and muse for Antonio Vivaldi, the "Red Monk."

It's a good idea, but we've definitely seen all of this before: Barbara Quick's novel, Vivaldi's Virgins: A Novel, is set in the exact same place with nearly the exact same people, and Rosalind Laker's The Venetian Mask: A Novel is set in the same place seventy-five years later, but with the same romantic themes as The Four Seasons. And Corona's writing style isn't as captivating as Laker's is. Corona's descriptions are a little vague, and the city of Venice is a little static, as opposed to the vibrant city it really is.

That said, however, I enjoyed the story. It's derivative, yes, but highly addictive; despite all the book's flaws, I couldn't stop reading. The beginning of the novel is a little shaky and confusing (girls are left at the steps of the orphanage, then go out to the countryside for a reason that wasn't made entirely clear, then come back to the Pieta later), but it picks up once you've read about fifty pages or so. The strongest parts of this book are the musical descriptions; it's clear that Corona is passionate about this subject.

Very good novel set in Vivaldi era Venice
Yet another novel set in the Ospedale Della Pieta. I picked up this novel because I am a fan of Vivaldi's music and interested in his life. This novel reminded me very much of Vivaldi's Virgin's, but I prefer the writing style of the author of this book. Corona's attention to detail is really wonderful, her story really moves a long at a good pace. As a Vivaldiphile, would have loved to see a novel with Vivaldi as the main character, as no one has done this yet. Would also love to read a novel about Vivaldi which is not set in the Pieta, maybe with this recent influx of Vivaldi novels my prayers will be ansewered.