A first-rate virtuoso, Tartini was the violin teacher who most influenced 18th-century style: his pupils, who came to study with him from all over the world, went on to fill the best orchestras in Europe. By crafting a melodically and harmonically original language on the violin, he best imitated the human voice by taking inspiration from poetry and its metre and using it as a model for his melodic phrases. Tartini, Corelli’s true descendent, went through various compositional phases by striving to find an absolute and natural style of music, close to the people’s soul. There remain abundant traces of his career in a large collection of letters, second only to Mozart’s correspondence.

The general public is perhaps still unaware of the beauty which remains secret: hundreds of his compositions which are yet to be brought to light. This re-release publication accompanies the beginning of an Opera Omnia edition published by Bärenreiter beginning in 2020: it is hoped that it may outline the illuminating profile of a great musician of the eighteenth century. – Enrico Gatti