ALONG THE STEPS OF A LIFETIME

12 - He composes the Trillo del diavolo

One anecdote relates to Tartini’s most famous composition, written in this youthful period according to Joseph Jérôme de Lalande. While Tartini was sleeping, the devil appeared to him in a dream. The devil was willing to fulfil his every wish, Tartini then asked him to play the violin The music that emerged was so surprisingly fascinating that as soon as he awoke, Tartini tried to transcribe the melody. The result did not reach the high levels of the dream, but it nevertheless became Giuseppe Tartini’s most famous composition, known to the present day with the name of the Trillo del diavolo (sonata g5 in G minor). This dream is handed down to us in the chronicles of the astronomer Joseph Jérôme de Lalande who met Tartini in Padua in 1765. Stylistic analysis of the Trillo del diavolo, however, suggests a date dating back to 1740. One can also hypothesize that Tartini continued, as was his habit, to edit the composition and that the one that has come down to us is precisely the result of corrections and improvements.