Every year lots of new recordings of
compositions by Antonio Vivaldi are
released. In comparison, Vivaldi's younger
colleague Giuseppe Tartini comes off
rather badly. Even Italian ensembles
and musicians seem less than keen to
explore Tartini's output. The reason
may be that Tartini's music isn't as
extroverted and dramatic as Vivaldi's,
and although his violin parts are anything
but easy their virtuosic character isn't
as obvious as those in Vivaldi's concertos.
The difference between
Vivaldi and Tartini is not just a matter
of contrasting characters. It had everything
to do with artistic views. Tartini was
very critical about the tendency to
put virtuosity in the centre. Unlike
most composers of his time he never
wrote an opera. In a conversation with
the French theorist De Brosse he stated:
"I have been asked to write for the
opera houses of Venice, but I always
refused, knowing only too well that
a human throat is not a violin fingerboard".
Roger-Claude Travers, in the liner notes
to the recording of concertos by Locatelli,
Vivaldi and Tartini with Giuliano Carmignola
and the Venice Baroque Orchestra (Archiv
474 5172), writes: "By the early 1730s
Tartini had found a distinctive voice
of his own, speaking a language that
combines the art of cantabile writing
with instrumental virtuosity, while
eschewing the departures of composers
like Locatelli, who straddled the gulf
between performance and tradition, and,
above all, Vivaldi, with his blithe
blurring of the dividing line between
theatricality and the concerto. (...)
His aim was to rediscover in violin
playing the perfect, natural sound of
the singing human voice. It was an ethical
position."
Around 1740 Tartini
suffered a stroke which partly paralysed
his left arm and had some effect on
his playing. As a result he devoted
most of his time to teaching, in particular
at the violin school he started in 1727
in Padua, where he lived from 1726 until
his death, and to the writing of theoretical
works, often of a rather speculative
nature. His writings were often criticised,
although they also found some support.
He believed that God had entrusted to
him the task of revealing the unifying
principles of the universe. According
to Tartini the source of truth is Nature.
Art, on the other hand, was the modification
of a given truth. Therefore the closer
the artist remains to Nature the closer
he will get to the truth. "I am at home
as much as I can with Nature, and as
little as possible with Art, having
no other Art than the imitation of Nature",
he wrote to a friend.
These principles explain
his criticism of Vivaldi and virtuosity,
as well as his own development towards
a 'natural' and poetic style of composing.
It is also in line with the general
preference for a 'natural' style in
music, which was one of the main aesthetic
principles of the Enlightenment. In
accordance with these principles Tartini
moved away from polyphony and concentrated
on melody, which he considered the perfect
tool to express Affects. There is a
clear connection here with the ideas
of the German theorist Johann Mattheson,
one of the main promoters of the aesthetic
ideals of the Enlightenment, who in
1723 in his journal 'Critica Musica'
stated that melody is the foundation
of music.
Tartini's ideals are
perfectly reflected in the trio sonatas
recorded here, which were probably written
between 1745 and 1749. The violin parts
are not very virtuosic, and there are
no dramatic contrasts. But there is
a lot of delicate and beautiful lyricism.
One of the highlights in this respect
is the andante from the Sonata in G
(Brainard G1). There is some imitation
between the violins now and then, but
homophonic writing is dominant in these
sonatas. There is one notable exception:
the sonata in C (Brainard C3) opens
with a largo which clearly refers to
Corelli. For Tartini, as for so many
composers, he was still a point of reference.
This doesn't mean these
sonatas have nothing more to offer than
nice and entertaining music: there is
a lot of expression, in particular in
the slower movements (andante, largo).
The largo andante from the Sonata in
d minor (Brainard d2) should especially
be mentioned, which contains a deal
of chromaticism and is characterised
by musical figures which represent the
rhetorical device of the 'suspiratio'.
It is a shame this
doesn't quite come through in this performance.
Otherwise I have really enjoyed this
recording, which is - as far as I know
- the very first devoted to Tartini's
trio sonatas. All four artists play
with great zest and imagination, with
tasteful ornamentation, and with great
sensitivity in the slower movements.
I recommend this recording and hope
to hear more Tartini from this ensemble.
Johan van Veen
La Magnifica Comunità (on period instruments):
for
details
