TARTINI, Giuseppe
b Pirano, 8 April 1692
d Padua, 26 February 1770, aged seventy-seven

His father wanted him to study theology, but instead he studied law at Padua University, where he also developed his love of music and became a most proficient fencer. Leaving university in

1713, he eloped with and married the ward of Cardinal Giorgio Carnario who ordered Tartini's arrest. He fled disguised as a monk and entered the monastery at Assisi, staying there for two years and studying the violin. The differences with the cardinal being resolved he and his wife settled in Venice for some time. His fame as a violinist spread and in 1721 he was appointed first violin at the Capella del Santo in Padua. From 1723 to 1725 he directed Count Kimsky's orchestra in Prague. He returned to Padua in 1726, founded his school of violin playing and wrote a number of treatises on theoretical aspects of music: Despite lucrative offers to go abroad he remained in Italy playing, composing and teaching until he died after years of suffering from a malignant growth of the foot.

He left some sacred vocal music, about a hundred and fifty violin concertos over two hundred sonatas and other instrumental works.