Tartini's Devil's Thrill Sonata, the Bargain with the Devil

You may have heard about the people who sold their souls to the devil in exchange for power, fame, knowledge, and so on, the most well-known of whom is Faustus who made a deal with the devil in exchange for magical knowledge but this time there is no bargain but a dare.

In the year of 1713, a strange thing happened, the devil came in Guiseppe Tartini's dream with his tempting tune. He explained his encounter with the devil with these sentences. "One night, in the year 1713, I dreamed I had a pact with the devil for my soul. Everything went as I wished: my new servant anticipated my every desire. Among other things, I gave him my violin to see if he could play. How great was my astonishment on hearing a sonata so wonderful and so beautiful, played with such great art and intelligence, as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy? I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and I awoke."

Tartini was impressed by the devil's music so greatly that he tried to play it as soon as he woke up but he was frustrated by his failure. He felt so ashamed, so inferior, so humiliated that he even thought about ending his magnificent music career yet he couldn't. Even though, it was the best music he had ever composed he said " I would have destroyed my instrument and said farewell to music forever if it had been possible for me to live without the enjoyment it affords me."

Guiseppe Tartini was born on 8th April, 1968, in the Republic of Venice. He started to study law at the University of Padua but later abandoned it due to his intense passion for music. He married Elizabette Premazore, the niece of Bishop Padua in secret, as a consequence of this he had to escape disguised as a monk and sought refuge in a monastery where he impressed the archbishop with his violin playing. Later on, he became the principal violinist at the Church of San Antonio in 1721.

Tartini was defined as the "finest musician in the world" but he owes much of his fame to Devil's Thrill Sonata, especially to the story behind it. He chose not to reveal his dream to the devil until a few years before his death. He disclosed everything to the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande. Most probably, he didn't want to be the focus of criticism due to his religious background, as it is known, because of the pressure of the Church, people were closed towards everything related to questioning, sin, or evil. He just felt that he couldn't be understood by anybody at that time ; however, no matter what, he left us a magnificent masterpiece. You can listen to Devil's mesmerizing playing from the link I shared.