Sinnen, Maddalena Laura (née Lombardini)
Sinnen, Maddalena Laura (née Lombardini)
Sinnen, Maddalena Laura (née Lombardini), Italian violinist, singer, and composer; b. Venice, 1735; d. after 1785. She studied at the Cons. dei Mendicanti in Venice and received violin lessons from Tartini in Padua. In 1760 she married Ludovico Sirmen, a violinist, maestro di cappella, and composer at S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. After touring with him (1760–68), they scored a notable success at the Concert Spirituel in Paris in 1768. In 1771–72 she appeared in London to great acclaim, but then inexplicably launched a career as a singer of no particular distinction. In 1782 she was the principal singer at the Dresden court. In 1785 she made her last public appearance, as a violinist, at the Concert Spirituel.
Works
6 quartetti, op.3 (Paris, 1769; second ed., London, c. 1775; in collaboration with L. Sirmen); 6 Trios for 2 Violins and Cello Obbligato, op.l (London, c. 1770); 6 sonates for 2 Violins, op.2 (Paris, c. 1770; as op.4, London, 1773); 6 violin concertos, op.3 (London and Paris, c. 1770; as opp. 2 and 3, Amsterdam, c. 1772); 6 duetti for 2 Violins, op.5 (Paris, 1775).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire