Eighteenth century tourists flocked to the Sunday services at Venice's wealthy religious establishments. Jean-Jacques Rousseau himself wrote a glowing report of the music sung in the Scuole grandi, or confraternal churches, of the city; he specifically claimed that the music at the Venetian Pio Spedale della Pietá was far superior to Venetian opera singing, and might rival any musical performance in the world. The "hospital" of the Pietá maintained a large (female) choir and a professional maestro di cappella; in addition, for nearly 40 years they were in the habit of commissioning music from Venice's own Antonio Vivaldi. Many of his more splendid choral works for the church received their first performances at the Pietá, including the single best-known piece in his lifetime, Vivaldi's Magnificat in G minor.

In its best-known form, RV 610, Vivaldi's Magnificat disposes the canticle text (Luke 1:46-55) across nine movements. It serves the festal celebrations of the evening Vespers service. In this version, a full string ensemble supports a mixed choir—either four or eight voices plus soloists. The very beginning features a homophonic wall of sound, praising God in a highly chromatic idiom; Vivaldi used the same lush progression in at least four other pieces of music, two mass movements and two concerti. The second movement resembles a brief instrumental concerto, with an active violin Ritornello, three successive vocal solos, and a "punning" interruption by the full choir that echoes the word omnes (everyone). A central trio of choral movements each display Vivaldi's witty sense of text-painting: an affective chromatic passage with seventh leaps for Et misericordia (and His mercy), a stormy string accompaniment for Fecit potentiam (He has showed strength with His arm), and a wild orchestral unison for the Deposuit (He has cast down the proud). Two further soli movements (one of which suddenly introduces two oboes) and a choral hymn lead to the final chorus. Vivaldi once again presents a musical pun, as the text "As it was in the beginning" refers to the very chromatic opening music; a jubilant fugue brings the piece to a close.

This version of Vivaldi's Magnificat dates from the late 1720s and represents a mixed-choir revision of his first composition (for the women of the Pietá around 1715). It may have been written for the choir of Cardinal Ottoboni. Vivaldi also made a much later version (known as RV 611) for the Pietá in 1739, with new versions of several movements.

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