Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini (pronounced as /it/; ; 17 October 1720 – 19 January 1795) was an Italian composer. Though she was most famous for her compositions, she was also an accomplished harpsichordist and singer, and the majority of her surviving compositions were written for keyboard, the voice, or both.
Maria Teresa was born in Milan to Pietro Agnesi, an overbearing man in the lesser nobility. He provided early education for both Maria Teresa and her more famous older sister, Maria Gaetana, a mathematics and language prodigy who lectured and debated all over Europe while her sister performed. Maria Teresa was married to Pier Antonio Pinottini on 13 June 1752, and they settled in a district populated by intellects and artists, but eventually suffered severe financial ruin. Pinottini died not too long afterwards.
Maria Teresa died in Milan in 1795.
Not much is known about Maria Teresa. Nothing is known of her education or teachers, and the dates of her compositions are largely unknown. Many of her compositions have been lost, although there are records of their existence. Her career was made possible by the Austrian Lombardy, which proved progressive and enlightened in women's rights. The movement was more prevalent in Vienna and Dresden rather than in her hometown of Milan, and Maria Teresa found more success and more appreciative audiences in these cities than in her birthplace.
Maria Teresa had several famous performances, perhaps the most famous on 16 July 1739, when famous French traveller Charles de Brosses was very impressed by her music. He was not the only one; Count Gerolamo Riccati wrote several letters praising her compositions and musical talent. Another very famous performance was her theatrical debut, the Cantata Pastorale Il Ristoro d'Arcadia, in Milan at the Teatro Regio Ducale in 1747 where she dedicated her piece to various rulers of the surrounding areas of Saxony and Austria.
Agnesi would enjoy the patronage of Maria Theresa, holy Roman Empress and sovereign of Lombardy, and Maria Antonia Walpurgis, a gifted composer and contemporary. The Roman Empress was said to have sung at Maria Teresa Agnesi's famous 1747 performance.
Today her music is seldom performed. Her keyboard music, while often technically challenging, is said to have been somewhat hackneyed and not distinctive. Her work does seem to have matured throughout her career; her early works are simple and clean, while her later works are more virtuosic, complex, and melodramatic.
Operas
Keyboard, small ensemble, vocal music