It was during a period of retirement in the monastery of Assisi that
Giuseppi Tartini (1692-1770) resolved to quit the law course in the
University of Padua and seek a career with his violin. He became a great
master of this, a composer of works still regarded as classics, and a
scientific writer on musical physics. His letter to his pupil, Signora
Maddelena Lombardini, contains invaluable advice on violin practice and
study, especially on the use of the bow, and his treatise on the
acoustic phenomenon known as "the third sound," together with his work
on musical embellishments, may at any time be read with profit.
It was after hearing the eccentric violinist Veracini that His Satanic
Majesty appeared to Tartini in a dream and played for him a violin solo
surpassing in marvelous character anything that he had ever heard or
imagined. Trying to write it down in the morning he produced his famous
"Devil's Sonata," with its double shakes and sinister laugh, a favorite
of the violinist, but to the composer ever inferior to the music of his
dreams.
Pages:
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162