Tartini, Giuseppe
Tartini, Giuseppe
Tartini, Giuseppe, famous Italian violinist, teacher, music theorist, and composer; b. Pirano, Istria, April 8, 1692; d. Padua, Feb. 26, 1770. His parents prepared him for a monastic life by entrusting his education to clerics in Pirano and Capodistria, where he received some violin instruction. In 1708 he renounced the cloister but remained a nominal candidate for the priesthood. In 1709 he enrolled at the Univ. of Padua as a law student, and at the age of 19 contracted a secret marriage to the 21-year-old Elisabetta Premazore, a protegee of the powerful Cardinal Cornaro, who vengefully brought a charge of abduction against him. Tartini had to take refuge from prosecution at the monastery of the Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, where he joined the opera orch. He was pardoned by the Paduan authorities in 1715, after which he lived in Venice and Padua, being made primo violino e capo di concerto at the basilica of S. Antonio in Padua in 1721. He also was allowed to travel as a virtuoso, and soon acquired a distinguished reputation. From 1723 to 1726 he served as chamber musician to Count Kinsky in Prague, then resumed his residence in Padua, where he organized a music school in 1728; among his students there were Nardini and Pugnani. He subsequently developed a brilliant career as a violinist, making numerous concert tours in Italy. He retained his post at S. Antonio until 1765, and also remained active at his school until at least 1767. In 1768 he suffered a mild stroke that effectively ended his career. His style of playing, and in particular his bowing, became a model for other concert violinists. Tartini was a prolific composer of violin music, including concertos, sonatas, and chamber combinations. An ed. of his collected works was initiated in Milan in 1971 under the editorship of E. Farina and C. Scimone as Le opere di Giuseppe Tartini.
Although Tartini lacked scientific training, he made several acoustical discoveries, the most important of which were the summation and differential tones. He observed these effects in 1714 and summarized his findings in his Trattato di musica secondo la vera scienza dell’armonia (Padua, 1754); the differential tone became known also as Tartinas tone, or “terzo suono” Tartinas tones were actually described in an earlier German publ. Vorgemach der musicalischen Composition by G. Sorge (1745-47). These tones were also known, rather misleadingly, as “beat tones” They are in fact produced by the interference of frequencies of higher overtones. The “wolf tones” of string instruments are different in origin, and are produced by vibrations of the body of the instrument. Violinists are usually aware of interferences from differential tones and also from the less audible summation tones resulting from added frequencies; they correct them experimentally by a slight alteration of tuning. Among Tartini’s compositions the most famous is his violin sonata known under the sobriquet Trillo del Diavolo, supposedly inspired by Tartini’s dream in which the Devil played it for him; the eponymous diabolical trill appears in the last movement of the sonata. A complete ed. of his works commenced publication in Milan in 1971.
Works
instrumental: About 135 violin concertos, as well as concertos for several other instruments; a Sinfonie; 4 sonatas a 4 for String Quartet and Basso Continuo; some 40 trio sonatas for 2 Violins and Basso Continuo; about 135 sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo; some 30 sonatas for Solo Violin or with Basso Continuo ad libitum. The following instrumental works were publ. during his lifetime although some are now considered dubious (all publ. in Amsterdam unless otherwise given): Sei concerti a 5, op. 1, lib.l (1728); Sei concerti a 5 del?Tartini a G Visconti, op. 1, lib.3 (c. 1728); Sei concerti a 5, op. 1, lib.2 (1730); VI sonate for Violin and Basso Continuo, op. 1 (1732); (12) Sonate e una pastorale, op. 1 (1734); VI concerti a 8, op. 2 (e. 1734); VI concerti…d’alcuni famosi maestri, lib.2 (e. 1740); VI Sonate for Violin and Basso Continuo, op. 2 (1743); (12) Sonate for Violin and Basso Continuo, op. 2 (Rome, 1745; also publ. as op. 3, Paris, c. 1747); Nouvelle étude...par Mr. Pétronio Vinelli (Paris, c. 1747); (6) Sonates, op. 4 (Paris, 1747); (6) Sonates, op. 5 (Paris, c. 1747); Sei sonate, op. 6 (Paris, c. 1748); (6) Sonate, op. 7 (Paris, 1748); Sei sonate a tre, op. 8 (Paris, 1749); XII Sonatas for 2 Violins and Bass (London, 1750); VI sonate for 2 Violins and Basso Continuo (e. 1755; also publ. as op. 3, London, 1756); L’arte del arco (Paris, 1758); Sei sonate, op. 9 (Paris, c. 1763). His famous Le trille du diable was first publ. in J. Carrier’s L’art du violon (Paris, 1798). SACRED VOCAL: Canzonane sacre for 1 to 3 Voices; Stabat mater for 3 Voices; 2 Tantum ergo for 3 Voices; 3 Miserere for 3, 4, and 5 Voices; Salve regina for 4 Voices; Pange lingua for 3 Voices.
Writings
Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonar il violino (ed. by E. Jacobi, Musical Quarterly, XLVII, 1961; various other versions); Trattato di musica secondo la vera sienza dell’armonia (Padua, 1754; reprint, 1966 and 1973); De’ principi dell’armonia musicale contenuta nel diatonico genere (Padua, 1767; reprint, 1970); Risposta di Giuseppe Tartini alla critica del di lui trattato di musica di Mons. Le Serre di Ginevra (Venice, 1767).
Bibliography
F. Fanzago, Orazione...delle lodi di G. T.(Padua, 1770; 2nd ed., erti., 1792); F. Fayolle, Notices sur Gorelli, T., Gaviniés,Pugnarti et Viotti (Paris, 1810); M. Dounias, Die Violinkonzerte G. T.s (Wolfenbüttel, 1935; 2nd ed., 1966); H. Schökel, G. T. (Berlin, 1936); A. Capri, G. T. (Milan, 1945); M. Elmer, T’s Improvised Ornamentation (diss., Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, 1962); P. Petro-belli, G. T.: le fonti biografiche (Vienna, Milan, and London, 1968); P. Brainard, Le sonate per violino di G. T.: catalogo tematico (Milan, 1975); P. Petrobelli, T., le sue idee e il suo tempo (Lucca, 1992); A. Bombi and M. Massaro, eds., T.: Il tempo e le opere (Bologna, 1994).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire