Giuseppe TARTINI (1692-1770)

The Italian violonist, composer and teacher, GIUSEPPE TARTINI, made an important contribution to the virtuoso violin concerto and solo repertoire. He led a life of abandon as a student of law in Padua, Italy. After a secret marriage, he had to hide in a monastery in Assisi, Italy, where he studied composition.

Tartini insisted all his pupils learn Corelli’s Op. 5 sonatas before continuing study of anything else. He was a self-taught genius who in 1728 founded the most famous school of its time for violonist called the PADUAN SCHOOL. Tartini taught the same 10 students every day, teaching up to 10 hours a day, and thaught 70 students from around Europe.

Tartini’s „L’arte del arco“ („Art of bowing“) is a set of 38 variations on a theme by Corelli that develops a player’s technical ability. Tartini was very influential in the history of violin playing: he used vibrato (then knows as „tremolo“) as an ornamental effect and varied its speed; he perfected a special bowing known as „messa di voce“ – a crescendo and descrescendo in a single stroke; he discovered the so-called „resultant tone“; he used and influenced others to use thicker violin strings and he advocated the use of a lighter bow.