Giuseppe Tartini (1692 – 1770) was an Italian Baroque
composer and violinist.
Half a century ago, Giuseppe Tartini might have been
the only composer of the Italian Baroque most classical
music listeners could name. That was thanks to the
so-called Devil's Trill, which appears as the final
track on disc one of this two-disc set. Here one can
experience the "trillo del Diavolo" in its proper
place, as the final movement of a three-movement Sonata
in G minor for violin and continuo, and...(+)
Giuseppe Tartini (1692 – 1770) was an Italian Baroque
composer and violinist.
Half a century ago, Giuseppe Tartini might have been
the only composer of the Italian Baroque most classical
music listeners could name. That was thanks to the
so-called Devil's Trill, which appears as the final
track on disc one of this two-disc set. Here one can
experience the "trillo del Diavolo" in its proper
place, as the final movement of a three-movement Sonata
in G minor for violin and continuo, and within a larger
slice of his output, including a published set of
violin sonatas from around the time of the Devil's
Trill (around the early 1730s), and several later
sonatas. In a way, the rest of the music makes the
Devil's Trill seem less remarkable. There's nothing
elsewhere to match the double trills that gave rise to
a legend that Tartini had six fingers on his left hand,
but in the capable hands of violinist Elizabeth
Wallfisch, playing a period instrument, the level of
ornamentation in much of the other music on disc one
shows what a virtuoso Tartini was. Too, the music is
filled with tempo shifts and other dramatic surprises
akin in spirit to the story of Tartini awakening to the
Devil playing the violin at the foot of his bed. The
sonatas conform to the simpler structures of the
by-then classic sonatas of Corelli but contains an
intriguing programmatic piece of its own, the Violin
Sonata in A minor "sopra lo stile che suono il Prette
dallas Chitarra Portoghese" (in the style of the
Portuguese priest who plays the guitar). This piece,
with its vigorous Iberian accents, gives you an idea of
what Domenico Scarlatti might have written if he had
composed for the violin, but elsewhere one can't help
but feel that where Vivaldi remade the structures of
his music in response to new societal winds, Tartini
settled for elaborating old models. He is ultimately a
decadent composer, but he is given the best possible
treatment here.
Although originally composed for Violin & Keyboard, I
created this Interpretation of the Sonata in G Minor
(Devil's Trill) for Oboe & Strings (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).
, 21 Oct 2018 at 10:04 
SHEET MUSIC