Giuseppe Tartini | |
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| Born | (1692-04-08)8 April 1692 |
| Died | 26 February 1770(1770-02-26) (aged 77) |
| Education | University of Padua |
| Occupations |
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| Organizations | Basilica di Sant'Antonio in Padua |
Giuseppe Tartini (8 April 1692 – 26 February 1770) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era born in Pirano in theRepublic of Venice (nowPiran, Slovenia).[1][2] Tartini was a prolific composer, composing over a hundred pieces for the violin, the majority of them violin concertos. He is best remembered for his Violin Sonata in G Minor (theDevil's Trill Sonata).
Tartini was born on 8 April 1692 inPirano (today Piran in Slovenia),[3] a town on the peninsula ofIstria, in theRepublic of Venice to Gianantonio – native ofFlorence – and Caterina Zangrando, a descendant of one of the oldest aristocratic Piranese families.[4]
It appears Tartini's parents intended him to become aFranciscanfriar[citation needed] and, in this way, he received basic musical training. Tartini studied violin first at thecollegio delle Scuole Pie in Capodistria (todayKoper).[5]
He studied law at theUniversity of Padua, where he became skilled atfencing. After his father's death in 1710, he married Elisabetta Premazore, a woman his father disapproved of because of her poverty, unknown father and greater age (she was 20, he was 18). Unfortunately, Elisabetta was a favourite of the powerfulCardinal Giorgio Cornaro, who promptly charged Tartini with abduction. Tartini fled Padua to go to the monastery of St. Francis inAssisi, where he could escape prosecution. In Assisi he studied underBohuslav Matěj Černohorský.[5]
Legend says when Tartini heardFrancesco Maria Veracini's playing in 1716, he was impressed by it and dissatisfied with his own skill. He fled toAncona and locked himself away in a room to practice, according toCharles Burney, "in order to study the use of the bow in more tranquility, and with more convenience than atVenice, as he had a place assigned him in the opera orchestra of that city".[6]
Tartini's skill improved tremendously and, in 1721, he was appointedMaestro di Cappella at theBasilica di Sant'Antonio inPadua, with a contract that allowed him to play for other institutions if he wished. In Padua, he met and befriended fellow composer and theoristFrancesco Antonio Vallotti. Between 1723 and 1725 he was inPrague, where he was master of the chapel of the Count Kinsky.[5]
Tartini was the first known owner of a violin made byAntonio Stradivari in 1715, which Tartini bestowed upon his student Salvini, who in turn gave it to thePolishcomposer and virtuosoviolinistKarol Lipiński upon hearing him perform: the instrument is thus known as theLipinski Stradivarius. Tartini also owned and played the Antonio Stradivarius violin ex-Vogelweith from 1711.
In 1726, Tartini started a violin school which attracted students from all over Europe. Gradually, Tartini became more interested in the theory ofharmony andacoustics and from 1750 to the end of his life he published various treatises, in which he also treated problems of music theory on a mathematical basis.[5]
He died ofgangrene on 26 February 1770 in Padua.
Tartini's home town, Piran (now in Slovenia), has a statue of him in the square, which was the old harbour, originally Roman, namedTartini Square (Slovene:Tartinijev trg,Italian:Piazza Tartini). Silted up and obsolete, the port was cleared of debris, filled, and redeveloped. One of the old stone warehouses is now the Hotel Giuseppe Tartini.
His birthday is celebrated by a concert in the main town cathedral.
Today, Tartini's most famous work is the "Devil's Trill Sonata",[5] a solo violin sonata that requires a number of technically demandingdouble stoptrills and is difficult even by modern standards. According to a legend embroidered upon byMadame Blavatsky,[citation needed] Tartini was inspired to write the sonata by a dream in which theDevil appeared at the foot of his bed playing the violin.
Almost all of Tartini's works areviolin concerto (at least 135) andviolin sonatas (at least 100). Tartini's compositions include some sacred works such as aMiserere, composed between 1739 and 1741 at the request ofPope Clement XII,[7] and aStabat Mater, composed in 1769.[8] He also composed trio sonatas and a sinfonia in A. Cataloguing Tartini's compositions is a challenge for scholars and editors. Tartini never dated his manuscripts, and revised works that had been completed or even published long before, making it difficult to determine when a work was written, when it was revised, and the extent of the revisions. The scholarsMinos Dounias and Paul Brainard have attempted to divide Tartini's works into periods based entirely on the stylistic characteristics of the music.
Sixty-two manuscripts with compositions of Tartini are housed at theBiblioteca comunale Luciano Benincasa inAncona.[9]
Luigi Dallapiccola wrote a piece calledTartiniana based on various themes by Tartini.
In addition to his work as a composer, Tartini was a music theorist, of a very practical bent. He is credited with the discovery ofsum and difference tones, an acoustical phenomenon of particular utility on string instruments (intonation of double-stops can be judged by careful listening to the difference tone, the "terzo suono"). He published his discoveries in a treatise "Trattato di musica secondo la vera scienza dell'armonia" (Padua, 1754). His treatise on ornamentation was eventually translated into French — though when its influence was rapidly waning, in 1771 — by a certain "P. Denis", whose introduction called it "unique"; indeed, it was the first published text[10] devoted entirely toornament and, though it was all but forgotten, as only the printed edition survived, has provided first-hand information on violin technique for modernhistorically informed performances, once it was published in English translation by Sol Babitz in 1956. Of greater assistance to such performance was Erwin Jacobi's published edition. In 1961, Jacobi published a tri-lingual edition consisting of the French (basis of the following two), English (translation byCuthbert Girdlestone), plus Jacobi's own translation into German (Giuseppe Tartini. "Traité des agréments de la musique", trans. and ed. Erwin Jacobi. Celle: Hermann Moeck Verlag, 1961). Of significant import, Jacobi's edition also includes a facsimile of the original Italian found in Venice in 1957, copied in the hand of Giovanni Nicolai (one of Tartini's best-known students) and includes an opening section on bowing and a closing section on how to compose cadenzas not previously known. Another copy (though less complete) of the Italian original was found among manuscripts purchased by theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1958, a collection that also included numerous ornamented versions of slow movements of concertos and sonatas, written in Tartini's hand. Minnie Elmer analyzed these ornamented versions in her master's thesis at UC, Berkeley in 1959 (Minnie Elmer. "The Improvised Ornamentation of Giuseppe Tartini". Unpublished M.A. thesis. Berkeley, 1959).
Tartini is mentioned inMadame Blavatsky's "The Ensouled Violin", a short story included in the collectionNightmare Tales.[11][12]
Tartini, the great composer and violinist of the seventeenth [sic] century, was denounced as one who got his best inspirations from the Evil One, with whom he was, it was said, in regular league. This accusation was, of course, due to the almost magical impression he produced upon his audiences. His inspired performance on the violin secured for him in his native country the title of "Master of Nations". The Sonate du Diable, also called "Tartini's Dream" — as every one who has heard it will be ready to testify — is the most weird melody ever heard or invented: hence, the marvellous composition has become the source of endless legends. Nor were they entirely baseless, since it was he, himself; who was shown to have originated them. Tartini confessed to having written it on awakening from a dream, in which he had heard his sonata performed by Satan, for his benefit, and in consequence of a bargain made with his infernal majesty.
The folklore of the "Devil's violin", classically exemplified by a similar story told ofNiccolò Paganini, is widespread; it is an instance of thedeal with the devil. A modern variant is the country songThe Devil Went Down to Georgia; the PBS segment on violin in its series "Art" was titled "Art of violin: the devil's instrument".[citation needed]
Tartini'sThe Devil's Trill is the signature work of a central character inDaniel Silva'sThe English Assassin. Anna Rolfe, the daughter of a Swiss banker, is a famous violinist and the sonata features prominently in the novel. The story of Tartini's inspirational dream is told.[citation needed] The story also forms the basis of the mystery novel, "The Devil's Trill," by violinist and author Gerald Elias.[citation needed]
Tartini's "The Devil's Trill" is also featured in the Japanese animeDescendants of Darkness (Yami no Matsuei). The three-part story is also named after the composition.[citation needed]
Italian composer, violinist, teacher and theorist.
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