Teresa and Maria Milanollo

Taught violin in infancy by Ferrero, Caldera, and Morra, Teresa made her concert debut in her native Savigliano aged nine.

From 1838 to 1848, the Milanollo sisters toured throughout France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and England, charming royal courts and such composers as Johann Strauss the Elder, Berlioz, Liszt, Chopin and Meyerbeer.

[3] Although Giuseppe Milanollo's profession is usually given as a "manufacturer of silk-spinning machines",[2][3] he was identified by a contemporary musical critic as a "luthier", i.e., a maker of stringed instruments.

[4] The profession of luthier is consistent with Giuseppe's making for Teresa a little violin of white wood and giving her basic harmony lessons.

Shortly following her concert debut in the oratory of a convent of Savigliano, she performed in Mondovì on 17 April 1836 and then other cities in Piedmont to great admiration.

[2] To support Teresa's blossoming career, the Milanollo family departed later in 1836 for France, travelling on foot and by mule, to play in the Musard concerts in Marseilles.

[5] "There is little doubt," wrote Henry Lahee, "that the success of Teresa Milanollo gave the first great impulse toward the study of the violin by women.

[9]) A French harpist, Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, at the time taking refuge in London to avoid prosecution for fraud and forgery,[10] volunteered his services as manager to Teresa.

Unfortunately, he pocketed the earnings due to Teresa and her family from the September–October UK tour of forty concerts[11] he organized, which took in Liverpool and many venues in the South West and Wales.

The glittering dinner, which raised £1,000, was also the occasion to announce, "to loud and general cheering", that Queen Victoria, recently crowned, had agreed to be Patroness of the Fund.

The theatrical chronicler Simon Henry Gage described a "large room completely filled and the gallery exhibited a bright phalanx of beauty", and hailed the performance of "that wonderful girl, Milanollo".

[2] The unprecedented appearance of two female violinists "constituted a new feature of the concert-room"[15] and "created a sensation" which led to the sisters' eventual "worldwide fame".

[15] Now Teresa embarked on a triumphant tour of Northern France, including Lille (November), Rouen (in a concert with Amédée Méreaux[16]) and Normandy, lasting until the beginning of 1839.

She played in all styles with insight and fervour, and those who frequently heard her declare her technique to have been equal to that of the greatest men players of the day.

[2] During these years, aged fourteen and nine in 1841, the Milanollo sisters performed not only for the crowned heads of Europe, but also for – and sometimes with – the composers Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, and Meyerbeer.

[4] However, it was the Bordeaux Conservatory concert of 18 April 1841, attended by the composer Berlioz, which sealed the 14-year-old Teresa's reputation, and proved to be a turning point in her career.

He attributed the enormous success of the performance not to Teresa's precociousness but to her exquisite musical qualities, such as tonal precision and cleanliness, rhythmic liveliness and regularity, and felicitous placement of the most difficult high notes.

[18] Following these acclaimed performances King Louis Philippe III invited the sisters to play for the royal family in his castle at Neuilly (3 June).

[5] Embarking with Maria on another long tour of northern France, in Boulogne Teresa met de Bériot, who took her on as a student in Brussels.

They played a benefit concert in Turin, but also in Savigliano and other places, and finally performed at the royal castle of Govone, in the presence of Queen Maria Theresa of Habsburg and Tuscany.

[2] From early 1845 until 1847, the young sisters continued touring, visiting Rhine provinces, Bavaria, and principal cities in Switzerland and in Central France.

[2] Her official debut was on her sixth birthday in Paris in a concert where Teresa took the lead, but within a couple of years Maria became a virtually inseparable partner.

C'est un enchantement que d'entendre tour à tour, puis à la fois, soupirer, geindre, murmurer puis rire de notes plaintives, stridentes, grondeuses, langoureuses, ironiques ou passionnées, échos de mille voix qui se croisent, s'interrompent, déconcertent, s'attaquent et se confondent dans le pêle.

It's an enchantment to hear, whether alternately or simultaneously, sighing, moaning, murmuring then laughing, notes plaintive, strident, growling, langourous, ironic or passionate, echoes of a thousand voices which cross, interrupt each other, disconcert, tackle and mingle in the confusion.

[23] Teresa is said to have given her last commercial public concert in Nancy on 16 April 1857[24] at the age of twenty-nine, and "later that day, married a military engineer and amateur musician named Theodore Parmentier" at the church of Saint Martin, Malzéville.

Following the death of her father, Giuseppe Milanollo, on 27 February 1878,[2] according to a contemporary account written in 1899, the gallant General who is “Grand Officier de la Légion d’Honneur”, and his gifted and famous wife, have resided quietly in Paris; but, generous and accessible as ever, Madame Parmentier is still to be met by a fortunate few in select musical and social circles of the French capital.

[32] A book about Teresa's Ruggieri violin entitled Antonius and Hieronymus Amati, Die 'Maria Milanollo was published by Albert Berr, Bad Wiessee, in 1950.

Outside, on the elegant cornice forming the base of the attic is a Latin epigraph expressing the building's dedication to two of the Muses:A group of friends, having collected the money, (erected) in 1835 this theatre to Melpomene and Talia, with the aim of embellishing and enhancing the souls of the people.

The Neoclassically inspired construction features a façade with statues portraying Comedy and Tragedy and a group with the Genius of Glory crowning Music and Poetry.

There are floral bas-reliefs and round inserts containing portraits of the tragedian Vittorio Alfieri and the poet and opera seria librettist Metastasio.