The Pietà soon turned from an orphanage into a well-respected conservatoire (Arnold, 2009; Berdes, 1993; Eanes 2009). .
The Ospedale della Pietà offered lower-class women the protection, education and social positions that would not have been available elsewhere (Edwards, 2010; Stevens, 2000). Figure 1 is a flow chart which represents the ranking in terms of authority in the Pietà . The prioress (la priora) was "the highest post open to a member of the Pietà girls and possibly to any Venetian woman. " (Berdes, 1993, p. 122), her duties included taking classes, attending special ceremonies and being in charge of the administration work of the orphanage (Eanes, 2009). Amongst the students, the twelve most technically advanced were chosen as the figlie del coro, the performers. These girls received direct lessons from the external maestros and served as teachers to the younger students, passing on what they have learnt from the maestros (Arnold, 1965; Crucio, 2010). Edwards (2010) and Selfridge-Fields (1975) both maintain that once their duties as figlie del coro were completed, they were allowed to leave the Ospedale, however the student must accept the condition of never to perform publicly again. On the other hand, if she has chosen to stay, she was offered the title of "inservienti della musica " (servant of music) and has the chance of becoming an internal teacher (maestra) (Berdes, 1993; Eanes, 2009). During the eighteenth century, due to the growing number of requests from higher social classes, the Pietà started accepting upper-class students in two categories: figlie di educazione, students who were auditioned to be granted free admission; and figlie di spese, who were the tuition-paying students (Berdes, 1993; Heller, 1997; Stevens, 2000). From the evidences provided, it clearly shows that the Ospedale della Pietà not only offered high quality musical training, it also encouraged gender equality and female leadership, offering freedom and career to the girls which was against the social convention of that time.
