Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen received her musical education at the 'ospedale of the Mendicanti,' one of four Venetian orphanages for girls that specialized in music instruction.
Compositional Technique
The string quartets of Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen feature a looser, more improvisatory formal structure compared to the sonata-form models evolving at the time.
Performer Biography
The Allegri String Quartet, the performers on this album, have been active for 40 years and are known for their cohesive ensemble playing, making the music sound "as if it is being created at the moment of performance."
Critical Reception
In 1768, a review of Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen's performance at the Concert Spirituel in Paris noted her "purity and gentleness" and that she had taken the violin "so far in the direction of perfection."
Composer's Artistic Vision
Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen's string quartets are notable for their idiomatic string writing and her skill in composing for two violins, viola, and cello, despite the lack of established models at the time.
Composition History
Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen's string quartets were published in Paris in 1769, making them direct contemporaries of Haydn's Op.9 set of quartets, which helped establish the string quartet genre.
Composer Biography
Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen, the composer, was renowned as a violinist "absolutely without equal," a fine soprano, and an excellent composer, with one reviewer calling her "the goddess of music."
You might also enjoy...
Lombardini: 6 Quartetti per Archi
Sibelius: String Quartet in E-Flat Major / Theme and Variations in C-Sharp Minor
