Santa della Pietà (fl. ca. 1725 – ca. 1750, died after 1774) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 singer, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, and violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist.

A foundling

Child abandonment

Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting them. Causes include many social and cultural factors as well as mental illness. An abandoned child is called a foundling .-Causes:Poverty is often a...

 admitted in infancy to the Ospedale della Pietà

Ospedale della Pietà

The Ospedale della Pietà was a convent, orphanage, and music school in Venice.Like other Venetian ospedali, the Pietà was established as a hostel for Crusaders...

, della Pietà received a full grounding in music from early childhood at the coro, or music school, attached to the convent. She is known to have been a contralto

Contralto

Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...

 soloist, violinist, and composer during the tenures of Giovanni Porta

Giovanni Porta

Giovanni Porta was an Italian opera composer.One of the masters of early 18th-century opera and one of the leading Venetian musicians, Porta made his way from Rome, to Vicenza, to Verona, then London where his opera Numitore was performed in 1720 by the Royal Academy of Music , and eventually back...

, Nicola Porpora

Nicola Porpora

Nicola Porpora was an Italian composer of Baroque operas and teacher of singing, whose most famous singing student was the castrato Farinelli. One of his other students was composer Matteo Capranica.-Biography:Porpora was born in Naples...

, and Andrea Bernasconi

Andrea Bernasconi

Andrea Bernasconi was an Italian composer. He began his career in his native country as a composer of operas. In 1755 he was appointed to the post of Kapellmeister at the Bavarian court in Munich where he produced several more operas successfully and a few symphonies. After 1772 his compositional...

 as heads of the school. She is also known to have studied violin with Anna Maria della Pietà and to have succeeded her as director of the school orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 around 1740; at this time she performed at least six of the concerto

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

s written by Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...

 for Anna Maria. One piece by Santa, a setting of the Vespers

Vespers

Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Western Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours...

 Psalm 113

Psalm 113

Psalm 113 is the 113th psalm of the Book of Psalms .It is usually known by its first two words, Laudate pueri, and there are many musical settings including in Claudio Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine of 1610.# Laudate pueri Dominum,# laudate nomen Domini.# Sit nomen Domini benedictum# ex...

 in D, survives.

Along with Agata

Agata della Pietà

Agata della Pietà was an Italian composer, singer, and teacher of music.A foundling admitted in infancy to the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, she received thorough musical training from her childhood in the coro, or music school, of the convent; she later became a soprano soloist, singing...

 and Michielina della Pietà

Michielina della Pietà

Michielina della Pietà was an Italian composer, violinist, organist, and teacher of music....

, della Pietà was one of three foundlings resident at the Ospedale to become a composer later in life. Nothing further is known about her.