Duetto for two violins No. 6

Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen (1745-1818)

Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen was a Venetian violinist, composer, and singer, who helped pave the way for female instrumentalists to enter the profession. 

Raised in an orphanage in Venice that educated girls in music, Sirmen’s abilities on the violin were so pronounced that she was allowed to leave the orphanage regularly to study with the famous virtuoso Giuseppe Tartini. Tartini was so invested in her progress that he began paying for her lessons at the orphanage, inadvertently starting an untrue rumor that she was his illegitimate daughter. 

Despite her success at the school, the only way out of the orphanage was through marriage rather than music. While it was acceptable by this era for women to become opera singers, the instrumental world was still dominated by men. Determined to have a violin career, however, the twenty-one year-old Sirmen managed to obtain the certification of “maestro license” from the orphanage, which gave her permission to travel outside Venice for professional musical pursuits. The following year she married fellow violinist Ludovico Sirmen, providing her a means to tour and compose by sharing the stage with her new husband. Her first published compositions share Ludovico’s name, but it is unclear whether they actually wrote the works together or simply added his name for publishing. Eventually, however, Maddalena was writing and performing her own works to enormous success. Ludovico eventually left with a mistress and their child, but Maddalena managed to keep money of her own during their marriage, an unusual feat at the time, to the extent that she financially supported both her husband and child after they left. Maddalena eventually adopted a child with the priest she had traveled with for years, making it unclear whether the marriage to Ludovico was a professional or personal arrangement. 

Due to her marriage and career with Ludovico, Sirmen composed many works for two violins. Her pieces were known for their restrained virtuosity, inspired by the fiery style of her Baroque teacher, Tartini, but elegant and clean-cut in the new Classical style. Duetto No. 6 is possibly the closest homage to Tartini, with its lightening-fast ornaments and virtuosic leaps in both parts. Like the rest of her duettos, however, the virtuosity is more hidden and understated than that of Tartini’s era, demanding virtuosity of the duo rather than simply the first violin. Contrasting with the style of her contemporary Saint-Georges, where one player has a noticeably more difficult time than the other, the challenge with all of Sirmen’s duettos lies in a complex combination of two demanding lines at once. She frequently uses chords and double-stops (two notes played at once) in both violin parts, generally not in a showy display but rather to fill out harmonies. She pits rhythms that are difficult to coordinate against each other for extended periods, but if played successfully the resulting effect is simply enlivened characters rather than heroic feats.  If the Saint-Georges duos are a single juggler juggling eight balls alone, the Sirmen duos are two performers juggling four balls back-to-back.