Six Violin Duets, Op. 5 in two volumes

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 played her own compositions at concerts in Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, England, and Russia. She remained active as a composer during her career as a celebrated violinist. She composed chamber music, primarily concertos for one and two violins. In the 1780s 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. 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 comprising parallel and accompaniment figures. This collection comes in two separate volumes.