Tartini, Giuseppe: The Art of Ornamentation

The Berkeley Manuscript Collection comprises one of the most important collections of Italian instrumental music of the 18^th century, including many works of Giuseppe Tartini. Aside from compositions by this master, it contains 137 ornamented slow movements, 110 of which were composed by G. Tartini. The manuscripts are written by unknown hands and the original purpose of these works is unknown; they may have been created for the school founded by Tartini in 1727 in Padua and/or for archival documents.

18 slow movements from this collection were selected for the present edition. The unornamented line and the one or two ornamented line(s) are carefully edited and placed over one another. This is a practical music edition, the purpose of which is the study and recovery of Tartini’s art of ornamentation which had been lost in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Edited by Patrick Oliva