Devil's Trill Sonata

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The Violin Sonata in G minor, more famously known as the Devil's Trill Sonata is a famous work for solo violin (with figured bass accompaniment) by Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770), famous for being extremely technically demanding, even today.

• Violin Sonata in G minor
  1. Larghetto affettuoso
  2. Allegro moderato
  3. Andante
  4. Allegro assai-Andante-Allegro assai

The story behind "Devil's Trill" starts with a dream. Tartini allegedly told the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande that he dreamed that The Devil appeared to him and asked to be his servant. At the end of their lessons Tartini handed the devil his violin to test his skill—the devil immediately began to play with such virtuosity that Tartini felt his breath taken away. When the composer awoke he immediately jotted down the sonata, desperately trying to recapture what he had heard in the dream. Despite the sonata being successful with his audiences, Tartini lamented that the piece was still far from what he had heard in his dream. What he had written was, in his own words: "so inferior to what I had heard, that if I could have subsisted on other means, I would have broken my violin and abandoned music forever." It was believed to have been a song that was played in heaven but was banished for its negativity against God. It is also believed that if you played it your soul would belong to the devil forever. In other words, it is believed that this is one of the hardest pieces ever written for the violin, featuring many different skills the violinist must master in order to play it skillfully.

External links

• Trill Sonata: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
• http://www.renaissancemagazine.com/music/devil.html A brief expose of The Locatelli Trio's performance of Giuseppe Tartini's works, including elaboration of the Devil's Trill Sonata story at Renaissance Magazine.

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