Giuseppe Tartini was born 8 April 1692 in Pirano, Istria, south of Trieste. His father, a successful and important trader, came from Florence. Giuseppe began his studies in music early learning the violin at the Capo d’Istria. In 1709 he attended the University of Padua where he studied theology, philosophy and literature, although his father preferred and highly encouraged him to enter the priesthood. At the age of 18 he eloped with Elizabeth Premazone, a fellow student and the niece of Cardinal Giorgo Comaro, bishop of Padua who ordered Tartini’s arrest. The couple had kept their marriage a secret for three years, but once discovered, Tartini was forced to flee Padua leaving his wife who was sent quickly away to a convent.

It’s hard to know exactly what happened next, but Giuseppe probably traveled to Rome where the Monastery of Assisi offered him refuge. It was here that he studied with the famous Czech composer of the day, Bohuslav Czenohorsky. In an even more unusual turn of events, Tartini, in 1715, was found by a group of religious pilgrims traveling from Padua. Tartini inquired after his wife, whereupon he was told that she had been pardoned by the cardinal. He immediately returned to her. During his time away he began perfecting his violin playing with Gasparo Visconti in Cremona. In 1716 he was invited to enter a contest with Francesco Maria Veracini at the Palace Pisano-Mocegino in Venice, but finding himself unready he went to Ancona for further study. While there, Tartini wrote his treatise on violin playing, Arte dell’ Arco in which he described what he called the acoustic phenomenon of resultant tones, which he called, terzo sono.

Upon his return to Padua in 1721, Tartini was appointed the first violin and maestro de cappella at the Cappella del Santo, a post he held for the remainder of his life. Count Kinsky invited Tartini to Prague in 1723 to attend the coronation of Charles VI and he remained as a member of Kinsky’s orchestra until 1726. Tartini returned home via Venice and in 1728 he established a violin school in Padua, the Scuolla delle Nazioni.

Tartini composed more than 130 Concerti for violin, two Concerti for flute and two Cello concerti as well as over 170 Sonatas for violin, with or without continuo, some 50 Sonatas a Tre and 4 Sonatas a Quatre. Since only some 20 concerti and 50 sonatas were ever published, the remainder exist only in manuscripts. Due to the lack of chronology in the manuscripts, a catalogue of Tartini’s concerti was drawn up by Minos Doumias and numbered according to their keys (thus the numbering of this sonata as D. 15).

Although his compositions spread to France, England and Germany, Tartini spent most of the remaining twenty years of his life concentrating on his theoretical treatises. The Sonata on tonight’s program is a transcription of his Concerto in D Major for Violin, D. 15.

Tartini died on February 26, 1770 after a long illness. An elaborate funeral was held for him at the church of St. Catherine by the city of Padua.