Milanollo, Teresa

1827-1904

Gifted violinist; born at Savigliano, near Turin, Italy. Her parents were poor, but every sacrifice was made to give her and her sister a musical education. After some lessons on the violin from Giovanni Ferrero, a musician of her native place, she was taken to Turin, where she became a pupil of Gebboro Mori at the Capella Carlo Alberto. She appeared a few times in concert and received such great applause that her parents decided to take her to Paris. At Marseilles, Teresa appeared in concert and was given a letter of introduction to Lafont. Arriving in Paris in 1837 she immediately became his pupil, playing five times at the Opera Comique and making a tour with him through Holland and Belgium and England. Her sister Maria joined her and together they gave concerts in France, Holland and Belgium, returning to Paris in 1839. She appeared before Louis Philippe in Paris and at the Paris Conservatory, studied with De Beriot in Bologna, then traveled through Germany and Belgium. She appeared in London again in 1845. On the death of her sister in 1848 she retired, but gradually resumed concert work until her marriage to M. Charles Joseph Parmentier, when she retired permanently. From 1878 until she died she lived very quietly in Paris. Her compositions are Ave Maria, chorus for male voices; two romances; Fantaisie elegiaque for violin; transcript and variations for violin and piano.