Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen

6 Violin Duets op. 5, Nos. 4-6

Maddalena Sirmen was a groundbreaking and innovative violinist, composer, singer and keyboard player. She was a student of Giuseppe Tartini who considered her an outstanding talent. She decided to become a professional violinist at a time when female instrumentalists were a rarity. She concertized, playing her own compositions in Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, England and Russia. As a composer she remained active during her career as a celebrated violinist. She composed chamber music, concertos for one and two violins. In the 1780's the style of violin playing changed. Her playing became old fashioned, according to the tastes of the times. She abandoned her concert activity as a violinist, and became the leading soprano of the St.Petersburg Opera in Russia. Her Six Duets for Two Violins demonstrate her great compositional ability and reflect the early evolution of the Classical style, with the second part less contrapuntal but rather comprised of parallel and accompaniment figures. This collection comes in two volumes.