Devil's Trill Sonata
The Devil's Trill Sonata (Violin Sonata in G minor ) is a composed in 1730, Sonata for Solo - Violin and Basso Continuo by Italian Baroque composer and violinist Giuseppe Tartini .
history
The sonata was composed in 1730, but was first published post mortem in 1798 in the music volume L'Art du Violon by Jean-Baptiste Cartier under the title “Le Trille du Diable” (“The Devil's Triller”). After its first publication, the work was published in several new versions and adaptations over the years. In addition to some historical editions such as those by Joseph Joachim, there are also arrangements for solo violin and piano and heavily arranged versions by Jenö Hubay , among others, and a version for solo violin, string orchestra and organ by Fritz Kreisler .
The creation of the sonata was preceded by a dream of the composer in 1713, which Tartini described as follows:
“One night in 1713, I dreamed that I had made a pact with the devil to be my servant. Everything went according to my command, my new domestics recognized all my wishes in advance. Then the idea occurred to me to let him have my fiddle and see what he would do with it. How great was my astonishment when I heard him play a sonata of such exquisite beauty with perfect skill that it exceeded my wildest expectations. I was delighted, carried away, and bewitched; I caught my breath and woke up. Then I picked up my violin and tried to understand the sounds. But in vain. The piece that I then wrote may be the best that I have ever composed, but it falls far short of what I was so delighted with in dreams. Because I would have broken my violin in two and given up the music forever if I had actually managed to record the joys of that dream. "
description
The sonata consists of the four movements Larghetto , Allegro Energico , Grave and Allegro Assai . The phrase "slow - fast - fast" was conceived by Tartini. The 3rd movement "Grave" forms the slow transition to the final movement.
- 1st movement - Larghetto
The larghetto has a melancholy, yearning character, a typical Siciliano for the time . The long melodies, typical of Tartini's style, are striking.
- 2nd movement - Allegro Energico
The Allegro Energico of the second movement forms a moderately fast pace. The concise opening theme of the movement, which consists of triad breaks, is followed by rather soft, flowing sixteenth passages.
- 3rd movement - Grave
The slow grave forms the transition to the subsequent fast final movement and is taken up several times in this.
- 4th movement - Allegro Assai
The fourth movement is a fast Allegro Assai and has the dance rhythm of a bourrée .
The naming of the sonata and the legend of the devil are only expressed in this movement. On the one hand, the very virtuoso, fast passages with slow interruptions can be interpreted as the sleeping Tartini, who is always startled by the devil and his furious playing. In addition, in the fast sections of this movement there is the trill that was later called "Devil's Trill " after the piece was named "Le trille du diable" in L´Art du Violon in 1798 . The solo violin plays a melody next to the trill, with both elements gradually rising in height. The technical effect was new around 1730, so the anecdote with the devil's vision was related to it.
The Devil's Trill Sonata in the film
In 1946 the British director Bernard Knowles made the film “ Paganini . The Magic Bow ”, which premiered in Cannes and in which Stewart Granger played Niccoló Paganini . The pieces for violin, including the Devil's Trill Sonata, will be played by Yehudi Menuhin . For Menuhin, who plays a Stradivarius and a Guarneri here , it was the first contact with the film.
In the film Onegin - A Love in St. Petersburg by Martha Fiennes , the then twelve-year-old Chloë Hanslip played the sonata.
expenditure
The sonata was first printed in 1799 by Decombe in Paris in the volume L'Art du Violon, No.140 , pp. 307-313. It is entitled: Sonate de TARTINI, que son ecole avoit nommer le TRILLE de DIABLE, D'après le Rêve du Maître disoit avoir vû le diable au pied de son lit executant le trille ecrit dans le morceau final de cette Sonate.
- Giuseppe Tartini: Sonata for violin and basso continuo in G minor “Devil's Triller”. Edited by Agnese Pavanello. Augsburg, Bear Rider. (Bärenreiter original text.) ISMN 979-0-0065-5987-9
- scientific-critical new edition
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Sonata for violin and basso continuo, "Teufelstriller" | Chamber music guide - Villa Musica Rhineland-Palatinate. Retrieved January 25, 2020 . , Bourrée , [1]
- ↑ Twice Paganini spiegel.de, October 14, 1947, accessed on February 18, 2020
- ↑ The Devil's in the Strings , Trove, accessed February 5, 2020
- ↑ full text, pdf