The Instrumentalist

The Instrumentalist (2024) is a debut work of historical fiction by British author, journalist and director Harriet Constable. It explores the fraught relationship between composer Antonio Vivaldi and his protégé, Anna Maria della Pietà, a young Venetian orphan. The novel is rooted in the real-life history of the Ospedele della Pietà, a convent, orphanage, and music school in Venice which produced several world-famous players and at which Vivaldi taught. Through its fictionalized depiction of one of the Pietà’s most noteworthy players, Anna Maria, it interrogates The Erasure of Women’s Creative Labor, Ambition and Drive Versus Friendship and Loyalty, and The Complexity of Mentor-Protégé Dynamics. The Instrumentalist was an international bestseller and was named a “Best Historical Fiction” by The Sunday Times.

This guide uses the 2024 Bloomsbury hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source text and guide include depictions of suicidal ideation, child death, and sexual abuse.

Plot Summary

The novel begins with the accidental pregnancy of a young sex worker in 18th-century Venice. Unable to care for her newborn and with no one to help her, she attempts to drown both herself and her daughter. As she wades into a canal, however, she is struck by how fiercely her baby fights against the water and decides that she cannot go through with her plan. She learns of an orphanage, the Pietà, which accepts unwanted baby girls and leaves her daughter behind along with part of a playing card (she keeps the other half for herself) and a note assuring the girl that she was loved.

The nuns at the Pietà receive the baby girl and christen her Anna Maria. Her life there is difficult but not without opportunity. The girls’ days are strictly regimented, with time slots set aside for chapel, school, chores, and music lessons. Along with friends Agata and Paulina, Anna Maria does her best to manage a childhood without the benefit of family or a traditional home. Music becomes her saving grace and the focal point of her young life. She is a talented musician with synesthesia: When she begins a particular piece, it “erupts” in a series of colors which helps her to play with greater feeling and intensity. Thanks to her skill, she catches the eye of Antonio Vivaldi, a famous composer and one of the Pietà’s music teachers.

Vivaldi encourages Anna Maria to value her art above everything else in her life, and even as a young girl she is characterized by her fierce ambition. Although Anna Maria has been trained to play several instruments, under Vivaldi’s tutelage, she dedicates herself exclusively to the violin. Many people find Vivaldi arrogant and difficult to work with, but Anna Maria is sure that he is a genius and feels lucky to have become his protégé. As she devotes more and more of her time to private lessons with Vivaldi, she spends less time with Agata and Paulina. When Agata falls ill and Paulina begs Anna Maria to accompany her to Agata’s bedside, Anna Maria refuses, saying she must practice. Agata dies, and Paulina ends her friendship with Anna Maria. Anna Maria tries to focus on her music, but the loss of both Agata and Paulina becomes a source of secret pain.

As she ages, Anna Maria hones her skill. Vivaldi continues to work with her and even secures the funding for a beautiful, bespoke violin. Anna Maria becomes, at 13, the youngest member of the Pietà’s professional orchestra, the figlie di coro. This coveted position only increases Anna Maria’s ambition, and she sets her sights on the role of first violinist. Vivaldi is promoted to Master of Music, the director of the Pietà’s entire music program. Anna Maria begins to assist Vivaldi with his compositions, and secretly she also begins to write music of her own. Most of her energy, however, is dedicated to her work with Vivaldi and her role in the figlie di coro. She learns that girls whose performance quality begins to lag are often married off to the highest bidder. She is determined to escape this fate and to earn the title of “maestro.”

Anna Maria’s career blossoms. She earns the admiration of Tartini, one of the greatest composers of the day and one of her own favorites. She is promoted to first violinist. She continues to craft small contributions to Vivaldi’s pieces. She chooses work over friendship and remains aloof from the other members of the figlie di coro, even when girls make an effort to befriend her. When Paulina joins the orchestra, however, Anna Maria, Paulina, and Chiara—another violinist—form a friendship of sorts, although Paulina must first forgive Anna Maria for refusing to come to Agata’s deathbed when they were children.

Vivaldi continues to mentor Anna Maria, but he does not encourage her to compose work of her own. He is happy to include her contributions in his music, but he never credits her. This begins to bother her, and there is a new tension in their relationship. She experiences further conflict when Paulina becomes pregnant. She and Chiara help Paulina conceal her condition, and Anna Maria worries constantly that they will be found out. In a scene reminiscent of Anna Maria’s unwillingness to go to the ailing Agata, she refuses to help Chiara deliver Paulina’s baby. Anna Maria feels that she cannot risk her role in the figlie di coro. The nuns discover Chiara and Paulina, and both are punished.

After a confrontation with Vivaldi during which she accuses him of stealing her ideas, he coldly asserts that her mother should have drowned her in the canal like so many other unwanted babies. Realizing that her mother likely did try to drown her, Anna Maria becomes distraught and flees the Pietà. After struggling to make it on her own in Venice, she encounters one of the Pietà’s wealthy donors, Elizabetta Marcini. Elizabetta takes pity on her and brings Anna Maria back to her house. Anna Maria confesses that she’s been writing Vivaldi’s music, and shows Elizabetta her playing card. She admits that she fears that both she and her mother are monsters, incapable of love. Elizabetta, unknown to Anna Maria, was also once a mother in a difficult position. She gave up her child, who was the product of sexual abuse and incest, and thereafter devoted her life to helping other young women.

Elizabetta takes Anna Maria to the brothel in which her mother was employed. There, Anna Maria learns that her mother did love her, that she too experienced synesthesia, and that she planned to return to the Pietà to retrieve Anna Maria, but died before being able to execute her plan. Armed with the knowledge that she was loved and Elizabetta’s promise to help her, she returns to the Pietà.

Elizabetta organizes a concert and insists that Anna Maria, Chiara, and Paulina (who now has a young infant daughter) be allowed to play. Anna Maria convinces Chiara and Paulina to participate, and Chiara forgives her. Anna Maria, Chiara, and several other girls collaborate on their own composition, vowing to both play and receive recognition for a piece that they wrote. Without telling Vivaldi, who is to conduct, they play the piece in front of a rapt audience. Vivaldi is enraged and communicates his displeasure to Anna Maria afterwards, but she remains resolute: She and the other girls work hard at their craft, and they deserve to be recognized for it.

Vivaldi leaves for a tour on which he takes his new protégé, a young, female musician. The understanding is that this girl’s honor is now compromised, and neither will be allowed to return to the Pietà. Elizabetta arranges for Paulina to leave with her child, and Chiara and Anna Maria remain. Anna Maria secures for herself the role of Master of Music, and she goes on to have a successful career as the first woman to hold that title.