The Devil’s Trill

The Devil’s Trill, sonata for violin and basso continuo by Italian composer Giuseppe Tartini, dating from about 1713 or, more likely, according to scholars of Tartini’s style, after 1740. About a dozen years younger than his compatriot Antonio Vivaldi, Tartini was a gifted violinist who wrote hundreds of violin works for his own concert performances, both concerti for violin with orchestra and chamber pieces for violin with smaller-scale accompaniment. The Devil’s Trill is his best-known work.

Tartini himself gave the work its byname, explaining that he had written down the piece after waking from a particularly vivid dream of the Devil playing a violin with ferocious virtuosity. He later stated that his sonata was but a shadow of what he had witnessed in the dream, for he was unable to capture on the page the Devil’s full intensity.

About a quarter hour in length, the sonata begins in a reflective mood, with gently flowing violin lines over harpsichord accompaniment; some performances replace the harpsichord with a modern piano. Frequent double-stops, requiring the violinist to play simultaneously on two adjacent strings, increase the technical challenges, even before the tempo quickens. After this languid introduction, the sonata charges forward with the violinist offering ever-new versions of earlier melodic fragments. Some variations are more overtly challenging than others, particularly those near the end of the piece, which are replete with not just double-stops but also trills, runs, and quick alternation of pitches high and low.