Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/A/Agnesi, Maria Teresa

Agnesi, Maria Teresa, was born at Milan, about the middle of the last century, ant is one of those composers who have contributed much to the lustre of the Lombard school of music. Not content with cultivating the science to the extent usually aimed at by her sex, she aspired to a depth of composition equal to the great masters of our sex ; to arrive at which, she entered upon studies proportionably profound and persevering. This talent for application seemed to be a natural inheritance in the family of Agnesi, whose sister, Gaetana, attained as much eminence in the mathematics as she herself did u counterpoint. She first published several cantatas, which wire well received, not only as being the productions of a female, but because they bore the true stamp of genius. Her first opera was "Sofonisba," which was well received, and soon followed by two others, "Ciro," and "Nitocri," both of which met with decided success.