Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770) Of the many Italian composer-violinists who followed in the wake of Arcangelo Corelli, none was more highly regarded than Giuseppe Tartini. Like Corelli he was unusual in that he wrote only instrumental music, extending the technical range of the violin in ever more expressive directions. Tartini composed in the new galant style, favouring strong singable melodies and simple, often dissonant, harmonies. As with his younger contemporary, C.P.E. Bach, the emphasis was on translating powerful feelings into sound, and several works are prefaced by poetical quotations indicating the inspiration behind a piece. But of the many concertos and sonatas that he wrote, only one – the so-called Devil’s Trill Sonata – has become a staple of the violin repertoire. Tartini was born in Pirano, on the Adriatic coast (then on the edge of the Venetian republic, now part of Slovenia), the son of a merchant in the salt trade. His parents intended him for the Church, but in 1708 he left his native region to study law at Padua University and, according to legend, perfect his fencing skills. Two years later, shortly after his father’s death, his marriage to Elisabetta Premazore incurred the combined wrath of her guardian, the Bishop of Padua, and Tartini’s own supporters. Forced to leave for Assisi, he remained there for three years, improving his violin playing and studying composition – probably with the organist of the Franciscan basilica, Bohuslav Cernohorsky. From around 1714 he started earning his living as a violinist, in churches, academies and opera houses, but a performance by a leading virtuoso, Francesco Veracini, made him realize that he still needed to work on his technique – in particular his bowing. By now able to return to Padua, in 1721 he was appointed to the important position of leader of the orchestra of St Anthony’s basilica. He remained in the job for the rest of his life, apart from a three-year spell in Prague (1723–26) where he worked for the aristocratic Kinsky family and performed at the coronation of Emperor Charles VI as king of Bohemia. In 1728 Tartini founded an important violin school in Padua which attracted students from across Europe and became known as “the school of the nations”. His favourite pupil, Pietro Nardini, became the leading player of the next generation and helped refine Tartini’s style into something even more elegant and sensitive. Another pupil, Maddalena Sirmen, was the recipient of a “Letter” outlining the fundamentals of violin playing, in which special emphasis was placed on mastery of the bow. This, along with his treatise on ornamentation, were Tartini’s major contributions to violin pedagogy. Throughout his life Tartini was fascinated with musical theory, and he claimed to have discovered the combination tone (terzo suono), a psychoacoustical phenomenon whereby the playing of two tones produces a lower third tone. Sometimes referred to as a “Tartini tone” or “ghost tone”, this became the starting point for a “natural” theory of harmony, which was set out in his Tratatto di musica of 1754. Such speculations, and the hostility with which they were often met, became the preoccupation of his later years, when, because of a stroke, he performed less frequently. Concertos Tartini wrote more than 130 violin concertos, 50 of which exist in manuscript form. Though some were published during his lifetime, the many that weren’t were constantly modified and revised by the composer – whose style changed throughout his career. In general, Tartini’s concertos are based on the concerto grosso model of Corelli, but with something of the more florid and virtuosic approach of Vivaldi. Above all, both in his concertos and sonatas, Tartini regarded the singing voice as the ideal to which the violinist should aspire, and his most exquisite writing appears in the slow movements. This means that the interest of these works is firmly located in the solo part, and the writing for full ensemble can sometimes sound routine and predictable. Ultimately this is quite simple music, designed to showcase the soloist, and it needs inspired playing for it to rise above the ordinary.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 08:54:05 +0000
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