Album insights
Giuseppe Tartini was born on April 8, 1692 in Pirano near Trieste (nowadays part of Yugoslavia as Piran). His early years remain largely shrouded in mystery, with limited information derived from a biography penned by his friend, the cellist Antonio Vandini. Initially destined for a religious calling by his family, Tartini journeyed to Padua in 1708 to study law. However, a change of heart led him to marry and pursue music, eventually causing conflicts with church authorities, prompting him to seek refuge in Assisi, where he's rumored to have studied under the Czech composer Bohuslav Cvernohorský.
Living the life of a wandering violinist in several northern Italian cities, Tartini was appointed as the director of the Basilica di Sant’ Antonio orchestra in Padua in 1721. His appointment terms allowed for further travels, leading him to spend years in Prague, drawn in by the 1723 coronation of Charles VI. Upon returning to Padua, he established his renowned music academy, attracting students from all over Europe. This paved the way for him to delve into writing treatises, including a piece on embellishments later borrowed by Leopold Mozart for his violin school. Tartini's career primarily focused on exploring music theory and acoustics, leading him to publish several theoretical works in the 1750s and 1760s, met with backlash from progressive authors. His sensitive and humble nature struggled to cope with the criticism, clouding his final years with controversies. He passed away on February 26, 1770 in Padua.
Tartini's extensive body of work as a composer includes over 130 confirmed violin concertos, with more than 50 surviving in their original manuscript form, along with around 40 trio sonatas and an equal number of solo violin sonatas. The majority of his works were published by Michel Charles Le Cene in Amsterdam, John Walsh in London, and Charles-Nicolas Le Clerc in Paris. Italian composers typically preferred to publish their works abroad due to the declining music industry in their own country, where most music was circulated in manuscript form. Additionally, the developed market for instrumental music in affluent Northern European countries was another factor influencing their choice of foreign publishers.
The music featured on this CD, with one exception, is sourced from the collection "Sonate a violino e violoncello o cimbalo, Opus 1" (Amsterdam, 1732), reprinted as "XII Solos for a Violin with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsicord or Violoncello" (London, 1746). Tartini's publications pose challenges for casual bibliographers. There are at least five anthologies labeled as "Opus 1," and the reliability of the Northern European editions remains unclear; for instance, it is hard to believe that the "XII Sonatas for two violins and bass" (London, 1750) were actually printed "at the author's expense," as claimed on the title page. One of Tartini's works, known in the 19th century as the "Devil's Trill Sonata," was not fully published during the composer's lifetime and only reappeared in J.B. Cartier's treatise "L'art du violon" (Paris, 1798). Cartier described it as a rarity, acquired from Pierre Baillot, who studied in Rome with a student of Tartini's favorite pupil, Pietro Nardini.
Similar to many composers of the mid-18th century, Tartini's style underwent significant changes throughout his career. Charles Burney, who visited Padua shortly after Tartini's death and interacted with his friends and colleagues, noted: "He altered his style in 1744, moving from extremely difficult to graceful and expressive." The cause of this change remains uncertain, but it's evident that Tartini's early sonatas were filled with numerous double and triple stops, ornate passages, and elaborate embellishments. His last sonata from 1732, the multi-movement Pastorale, even introduced Scordatura, requiring the G and D strings of the violin to be tuned up a whole tone. Such techniques, prevalent in 17th-century Germany and Austria, were considered outdated in Italy by the early 18th century. Even Corelli's Op. 5 from 1700, serving as a model for later compilations of Italian violin sonatas, was relatively modest in its technical demands.
Tartini emulated Corelli by structuring his 1732 sonata collection into two parts. The first six works featured fugues as the second movement, aligning with the da chiesa tradition, while the remaining da camera works consisted of two-part movements designed as prelude, allemande, courante, gigue, and more, although not explicitly labeled as such. While rooted in tradition, the collection also looked forward. Both the church and chamber sonatas adopted a three-movement structure instead of the usual four or five from Corelli, following a slow-fast-fast sequence that was at the height of its popularity in the mid-18th century. Tartini's harmonies were notably more modern compared to Corelli's; his brilliant passage work was often supported by simple, gradually paced cadential progressions, adorned and softened by appoggiaturas. Furthermore, Tartini's habit of assigning enigmatic titles to his sonatas, borrowed from Metastasio's classical dramas, foreshadowed the classical era when composers aimed to infuse their instrumental music with dramatic, operatic qualities. The title "Didone abbandonata" for Sonata No. 10 in G minor became widely recognized in the 19th century, capturing the both melancholic and fiery essence of the work, possibly coined by the composer himself.
"il trillo del Diavolo" stands out as the most famous programmatic violin sonata of the 18th century. Cartier mentioned that Tartini "saw the devil at the foot of his bed playing the trill featured in the final movement of the sonata." Tartini's own account of the circumstances leading to his composition was recorded by J.G. de Lalande in "Voyage d'un françois en Italie" (Paris, 1769). In the nocturnal dream, Tartini made a pact with the devil for his soul and witnessed the demon playing an exceptionally beautiful sonata on his fiddle. Overwhelmed by the performance, Tartini couldn't replicate the music he heard upon awakening, composing what he referred to as the Devil's Sonata, admitting it fell short of the hypnotic piece heard in his dream. Lalande suggested that Tartini composed the work in 1713, but stylistically, this would have been impossibly early; it likely originated in the late 1740s or later. The notorious trill surfaces in the urgent Allegro assai, intermittently interrupted by a gentle Andante—possibly symbolizing the slumbering composer. The rendition on this CD follows Cartier's rendition, displaying numerous discrepancies compared to the 19th-century printed edition still widely circulated.
Tartini's Opus 5 emerged towards the late 1740s in Paris, featuring an elegant edition engraved by Le Huë and dedicated to Tartini's pupil André-Noël Pagin. This suggests that while the music may have been acquired from Tartini by Pagin, not all six sonatas of this Opus originated directly from Tartini himself. The remaining works by Tartini on this CD, much like many of his later sonatas, exist in manuscript form. A significant portion hails from an original manuscript where Tartini transcribed all his solo violin compositions from around 1745 until his passing, currently housed in the Biblioteca Antoniana of the Basilica in Padua. Berkeley, California, also shelters many additional manuscripts, including a crucial collection gathered by members of Tartini's Paduan circle.
Opus 5 No. 6 is likely one of the earliest of these sonatas, despite the later publication date, as it stylistically resembles the sonatas of Opus 1 from 1732 (refer to CD1). Following a three-movement structure, the sonata features a slow initial movement, a long and intricate Allegro, and a final movement consisting of a series of increasingly complex variations (or "divisions," with the continuo remaining unchanged throughout). The sonata "in the style of a priest playing the Portuguese guitar" (perhaps a colleague of Tartini from Padua) predominantly comprises virtuosic runs, adopting a slow-fast-slow scheme. The Portuguese guitar likely resonates in the wild harmonic shifts and frictions of the first and last movements, reminiscent of Iberian folk music. In the slow movement, the alternation between improvisational arpeggios and simple chords likely mirrors the typical baroque guitar technique, interspersed with fretted passages featuring rasgueado (strummed) chords.
The Sonata in D Major was presumably completed shortly after. Although the passage work remains "extremely difficult," it is now predominantly melodic. For instance, the second movement alternates a fanfare-like motif with arpeggiated runs regularly, with a notable return to the opening theme and key in the middle of the movement. Reprises like these, leading into the classical "sonata form" ahead of their time, were already employed extensively in Baroque dance music. Additionally, a classic feature of this sonata is the restrained role of the bass line. As composers moved away from counterpoint and rapid baroque harmonic patterns, gravitating towards simple, gradually moving tones resting on tonic and dominant chords, the significance of the