Devil's trill Tartini
From time immemorial, music is one of the most important niches in the development of human society. It meets the dawn and the sunset of not one era, accompanies birth and death, is an inalienable secular and spiritual attribute. Music is one of the most controversial phenomena, accompanied by a belief in its creative, destructive, and ritual-mystical properties. But no matter how many masterpieces of musical art there was, one of the most mysterious was and remains the "Devil's trill" of Tartini.
"Devil's Trill", also known as "Sonata of the Devil" or "Sonata for Violin by J. Tartini" - a work of the famous Italian violinist and composer of the XVIII century Giuseppe Tartini. It is deservedly recognized as the most difficult in technical performance, which gave rise to a rumor that Tartini used 6 fingers for the game.
What prompted the composer who hid from the persecution of the cardinal in the Minorite monastery in Assisi, to create a masterpiece that is considered a cleric by the forbidden God for execution in Paradise? And who is the author of the "Devil's Trill"? The answer to this question was published only 30 years after the death of the violinist.
Shortly before his death, Giuseppe Tartini talked with his friend - the French astronomer Jerome Lavender, who, in a burst of revelation, revealed the secret of creating his most famous work: - I saw a dream. The Devil came to me and offered a deal - my soul in exchange for the incomparable mastery of the bow. I agreed. After that, I gave him a violin and heard incredible beauty music, delighting with its splendor and mastery of performance. In amazement, I woke up and tried to repeat the sonata, but I could not reproduce it even close to the original.
For many years Tartini rewrote and improved the music he heard in his sleep and, finally, he managed to shift it to notes so that it sounded not perfect, but maximally like a devilish performance. Until now, no one has succeeded in repeating the "Devil's Trill" as Tartini himself did. The music notes of the composer are covered with encoded verses of anti-church content. As if mocking the Holy Trinity, the sonata consists of 3 parts instead of the usual 4 or 5. Whether this is evidence of its mystical origin or the mystery that enveloped the "Devil's trill" - no more than the dust, opened in the eyes of lovers of the unknown and mystical - everyone decides in his own way.