Guiseppe Tartini (1692- 1770) was among the great composers and violinists of his time. His music is noted for being refined and expressive, in contrast the virtuosic pieces of his peers. At the Saturday, September 17 Chrysalis Chamber Players concert we hear one of his iconic pieces, “Devil’s Trill”, the violin sonata in G minor. He shared this reflection with French astronomer Jerome Lalande a few years before his death”
“One night I dreamed I had made a pact with the devil for my soul. Everything went as I desired: my new servant anticipated my every wish. I had the idea of giving him my violin to see if he might play me some pretty tunes, but imagine my astonishment when I heard a sonata so unusual and so beautiful, performed with such mastery and intelligence, on a level I had never before conceived was possible. I was so overcome that I stopped breathing and woke up gasping. Immediately I seized my violin, hoping to recall some shred of what I had just heard; but in vain. The piece I then composed is without a doubt my best, and I still call it “The Devil’s Sonata,” but it falls so far short of the one that stunned me that I would have smashed my violin and given up music forever if I could but have possessed it.”
