Giuseppe Tartini

Dodici sonate e una pastorale

The "Sonata for Violin and Cello or Harpsichord, Opera prima"—published in Amsterdam in 1734 by Michel Charles Le Cène—constitutes the first authorized edition of Giuseppe Tartini’s violin sonatas. Despite their opus number, they consistently reflect the composer’s artistic maturity. Over the course of the preceding decade, Tartini had solidified his reputation, established a stable professional career, and reached the pinnacle of his technical and expressive abilities.

The collection, begun no later than 1731, was also a response to the need to counter the circulation of unauthorized prints of Tartini’s sonatas by offering, instead, a collection that fully reflected his mature style. The dedication to Girolamo Ascanio Giustiniani—son of the Venetian procurator Ascanio and a student of Tartini’s—points to a significant connection: in 1721, Giustiniani Sr. had advocated on Tartini’s behalf so that he might be appointed "primo violino e capo di concerto" in the orchestra of the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua.

Op. I is Tartini’s most widely circulated collection. Known throughout Europe through reprints and copies, it contributed to Tartini’s international reputation. The collection’s influence is evident in French and German printed violin method books: Several sonatas—such as the "Sonata prima" (A14), the so-called "Didone abbandonata" (g10), and the "Pastorale" (A16)—became firmly established in the teaching repertoire of conservatories beginning in the 19th century. The remaining pieces, however, remained less well-known, although they are of outstanding compositional quality and remarkable technical variety.
From a formal perspective, the collection is divided into three sections that implicitly correspond to different stylistic trends: the church sonatas (Nos. 1–6), which are still closely linked to late-Baroque polyphony and feature a fugue in the second movement of each; the chamber sonatas (Nos. 7–12), in which the new melodic style comes to the fore, often characterized by modern movements with lyrical designations such as "affettuoso" or "cantabile"; and finally the "Pastorale," which was likely added to the cycle as a tribute to the dedicatee and calls for the use of "scordatura" and pedal notes.

Striking a balance between contrapuntal tradition and new cantabile expression, between formal rigor and expressive freedom, the "Opera prima" marks a decisive first high point in Tartini’s development. This critical new edition includes a contemporary historical account as well as a reliable musical score of the sonatas, which not only set the course for the development of violin sonatas but still offer extraordinary interpretive possibilities today.