(b Pirano, 8 April 1692; d Padua, 26 Feb 1770). Italian composer and violinist. After abandoning plans for a monastic career he studied in Assisi (probably with Černohorský) and by 1714 had joined the orchestra at Ancona. He later spent time in Venice and Padua, where he settled in 1721 as principal violinist at the basilica of S Antonio. He worked there until 1765 except for a period in Prague (1723-6). Besides performing with success, he founded in 1727-8 a ‘school’ of violin instruction; his many pupils included J. G. Graun, Nardini and Naumann.

Tartini was one of the foremost Italian instrumental composers, writing over 400 works: these include violin concertos and sonatas (many with virtuoso solo parts), trio sonatas and sonatas for string ensemble. Most have three movements, ordered slow-fast-fast (sonatas) or fast-slow-fast (concertos). His later works in particular approach Classical structures and display galant features, including regular four-bar melodic phrases. Elaborate cadence formulae are especially characteristic. He also composed some sacred music. Noteworthy among his writings are a work on violin playing and ornamentation, Traité des agréments de la musique - published only in1771 but thought to have been written earlier (L. Mozart, in 1756, is thought to have borrowed from it, but it may be the other way round) - and two treatises on the acoustical foundations of harmony (1754, 1767), in which his discovery of the Difference tone phenomenon is discussed.

• c135 vn concs., other concertos

• 4 sinfonie and sonatas, strs, bc
• c40 trio sonatas
• c135 sonatas, vn, bc, incl. ‘Devil's Trill’, g
• L′arte del arco, variations (c1747)
• c30 sonatas, single movts, vn solo

• sacred pieces

The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.