[1][2][3][a] Marietta Brambilla studied at the Milan Conservatory and made her stage debut in 1827 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London as Arsace in Rossini's Semiramide.

She returned to Italy in 1828 where she sang at La Fenice in the world premiere of Pietro Generali's Francesca da Rimini.

Brambilla made her debut at La Scala in the 1833 world premiere of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia as Maffio Orsini, a role he had written expressly for her.

[4] Brambilla retired from the stage in 1848, after which she taught singing in Milan and composed several albums of songs and vocal exercises.

She was also the contralto soloist in the first performance of In morte di Maria Malibran de Bériot, a cantata in memory of Maria Malibran jointly composed by Gaetano Donizetti, Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, Nicola Vaccai, and Pietro Antonio Coppola which took place at La Scala on 17 March 1837.