Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen (1745-1818) was famous not only as a composer, but also as a singer and violinist. Born in Venice to an aristocratic but poverty-stricken family, she was taken in at the age of 7 at a Venetian girls' orphanage where she received a thorough musical education. 14 years of study were required before she was allowed to leave the orphanage. At the age of 21, she received a master's degree and was permitted to continue her study with the virtuoso Giuseppe Tartini and practice music outside Venice. Her violin lessons with Tartini are attested to by a letter from him dated March 5, 1760, in which he describes to her his method of playing the violin. Today, this letter is one of the most important testimonies of ancient performance practice (text of this letter at Archive.org).
Soon after, in 1767, Maddalena Lombardini married the famous violinist Ludovico Sirmen, and the couple began traveling together. They went to Paris in 1768 where they delighted the audience of the Concert Spirituel; however, her solo performance outshined their joint performance. She was a versatile soloist on both the violin and the harpsichord.
Ludovico seems to have encouraged Maddalena in her musical endeavors, and he respected his wife's work and was pleased to see her as a successful soloist. In time, she established a reputation as one of the best and most famous of the composers and violinists educated at a Venetian girls' orphanage. Maddalena and Ludovico Sirmen had one daughter. Maddalena independently managed and increased her fortune during her successful career. However, with the collapse of the Venetian economy due to Napoleon's invasion, she lost her fortune and died impoverished in Venice on May 18, 1818.
In 1771 and 1772 she visited London, where she debuted her violin concerto. In 1773 she also started a second career as opera singer. Among works attributed to Sirmen are about 35 works for strings, including sonatas for solo violin, duets for 2 violins, string trios, string quartets, and concertos for violin and string orchestra. Most of Maddalena's works date from the beginning of her career (or even the time she was at the orphanage) and were published in the years 1770-1776.
Her compositions are partly built on older examples, and partly contemporary in character. The influence of Martini, Bertoni, Tartini and his pupil Alberghi as well as indirectly Corelli are recognizable in her work. The strong dynamics in combination with the strong rhythmics are seen as modern for her time, as are the unexpected syncopations and abrupt shifts in the harmony. She often repeated the same motifs, making them function as a kind of signature. Her 6 string quartets are now considered to be of considerable importance in the history of the string quartet, like Joseph Haydn's String Quartets op. 9, which appeared simultaneously in Paris.
It is likely that Lombardini Sirmen played a violin of the Amati type. This would be evident from the fact that in her compositions the highest finger positions, especially the eighth, were not used. These cannot be played on an Amati violin, but can be played on violins by Guarneri or Stradivarius.
Maddalena Sirmen's Duet for 2 Violins (1775) is played below by Pekka Kuusisto and Annebeth Webb at the Prinsengrachtconcert 2019 in Amsterdam.
(Partly based on the Dutch Wikipedia article)
Women Composers Index