L’arte dell’arco

“L’arte dell’arco” (“The Art of Bowing”) is the first volume of the complete edition “Giuseppe Tartini – Edizione nazionale delle opere musicali”. It is a fundamental work for the understanding of Giuseppe Tartini and of his analytical mindset. “L’arte dell’arco” refers to a series of variations on a gavotte from Sonata no. 10 from Arcangelo Corelli’s 12 Violin Sonatas Op. V.

The title of the collection can hardly be attributed to Tartini since it derives from a non-authorized “first edition” by Charles-Nicolas Le Clerc, published in Paris in 1757. Today, thanks to the research by many musicologists and in particular by the editor Matteo Cossu, we know much more about this fundamental collection than ever before, particularly concerning the attribution problems of various groups of variations.

The first critical edition of “L’arte dell’arco” includes, besides the music edition and a corresponding Critical Report on the sources and detailed editorial decisions, a historical introduction as well as aspects of reception history and performance practice. The Appendices offer, among others, 19 previously unpublished variations.