The instrumental pieces that Giuseppe Tartini composed, including concerts and violin sonatas, together with the production of church music, were born from precise musical needs and had concrete liturgical roles. Were it not for the solemn vespers with choir and orchestra, the concert masses and other liturgical celebrations at the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua, perhaps we would not now have most of Giuseppe Tartini's concerts.

The ear of the modern listener is used to listening to the music of the past in a way that is totally independent of the context in which it came about, and of the purpose for which it was written. It so happens that a vast repertoire such as instrumental music of the 18th-century is considered as a genre in its own right, while it was born in a liturgical context and was listened to and circulated in church, through the activity of the musical chapels, including the Antonian Musical Chapel which was famous for the level of its performers and the presence of personalities of composers and music theorists on its staff, including Father Francescantonio Vallotti (1697-1780), maestro di cappella for more than fifty years at the Basilica of Padua, and who stands out as a contact and collaborator with Tartini.

Instrumental music was therefore offered in an interesting and profitable mixture of church vocal pieces, pieces for a full orchestra, solo repertoires and so on. It is not always possible to reconstruct the executive context of these pieces, but various investigations in this sense throw light on the context of the setting, production and use of these pieces at the time.

What is the value of such research? It certainly allows one to listen differently. Furthermore, being able to place a piece of music in the context in which it was written and performed allows us to better understand the internal mechanisms, the purposes for which it was performed, the methods by which it was perceived by listeners, the influences acting on it and its significance.

Margherita Canale