Violin Sonata in g minor, B.g5, “The Devil’s Trill”

• Like most of Tartini’s compositions, it is unclear when he wrote this sonata. It was first published (posthumously) by J.B. Cartier in Paris in 1798, in a collection entitled L’art du violon.¹
• This sonata is sometimes catalogued as “GT2.g05” 
• The legend that produced the sonata’s nickname comes from an anecdote regarding this sonata in Voyage d’un François en Italie fait dans les années 1765 & 1766, a travelogue by French astronomer Jérôme Lalande. Lalande’s book records the following story, purportedly from Tartini himself. 

One night I dreamt that I had made a bargain with the Devil for my soul. Everything went at my command—my novel servant anticipated every one of my wishes. Then the idea struck me to hand him my fiddle and to see what he could do with it. But how great was my astonishment when I heard him play with consummate skill a sonata of such exquisite beauty as surpassed the boldest flight of my imagination. I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted; my breath was taken away; and I awoke. Seizing my violin I tried to retain the sounds that I had heard. But it was in vain.

Giuseppe Tartini, quoted in Lalande’s Voyage d’un François en Italie²

1. Pierluigi Petrobelli, “Tartini, Giuseppe,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed July 22, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000027529.
2. Quoted in Duncan Druce, “Giuseppe Tartini,” Hyperion (2003), accessed July 22, 2021, https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/c.asp?c=C590.