The roots of a musical genre are always blurred and it is difficult, even impossible for someone, to determine who was “the first of its kind“.
As we have said many times, melodies are distinctive entities and they just use people to incarnate.
Perhaps the evolution of musical genres is interwoven with the evolution of technology and musical instruments.
At the present time, the electric guitar has taken the place of the violin.
But there is always a supernatural or rather inexplicable background in creating a composition.
Classical music or even earlier genres have always been an inspirational “Eldorado” for Rock creators.
Marriages with harsh expressions were mostly successful, but they also created new genres.
At the same time, they gave every aspiring young rocker the opportunity to get to know the roots of European music in particular.
Entry into eternity…
The existence of a myth behind a composition is necessary for its entry into eternity.
One of the most famous myths is the one about “The Devil’s Trill” by the pre-classical Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770).
“The Devil’s Trill” or “The Devil’s Trill” Sonata or Violin Sonata in G Minor is a violin sonata and Basso continuo, an instrument almost necessary for such a composition in the Baroque era (1600–1750).
Consisting of 4 parts:
- Larghetto affettuoso,
- Allegro moderate,
- Andante,
- Allegro assai – Andante – Allegro assai.
Which follows a common structure for such a composition.
It could easily stand in a Rock song, in fragments, or even as a whole.
But always performed with modern electric instruments. Without having to be a song of Symphonic metal.
The amazing violinist Vanessa-Mae made the music widely known to an audience that is not necessarily a fan of classical music.
She “served” with extra grace to a Pop/Rock audience, excerpt from the sonata in her ninth album:
“The Original Four Seasons and the Devil’s Trill Sonata: The Classical Album 3“.
This gives real music lovers the opportunity to look for the story behind the original creation.
Myth or reality…
The first date given to it was 1713, but scholars of the composer concluded that the sonata was written in 1740.
This is due to the style of the composition, as the artist-musicologists report that the artist acquired it much later than 1713.
Tartini reportedly confessed to his friend astronomer Jérôme Lalande a dream he had seen.
In particular, the devil appeared in his sleep and asked him to become his servant and student (Tartini).
He then started giving him some music lessons and in the end, he gave him his violin to test his playing skills.
Since this particular instrument has been identified with the devil, he began to play demonically, and with such skill that the composer’s breath was taken away.
All this, of course, in his dream.
The devil’s melody?
Composer himself tells a more complete story in the text, “Lalande’s Voyage d’un François en Italie” (1765 – 66).
One night in 1713, he dreamed of making a deal with the devil in exchange for his soul.
The devil was willing to fulfill Tartini‘s every wish, and he gave him his violin, among other things, to see if he could play.
His surprise was great, as he managed to compose this sonata. Enchanted by the technique and the intelligent way of playing…
He forgot to breathe, as he was not used to letting his imagination run wild and being carried away by it.
The result was that he woke up, grabbed his violin directly, and tried to capture, at least in part, the melody.
Essentially it was just a small part of the sonata played by the devil himself.
In about a quarter of the composition, it repeats the same pattern many times, simply changing the tempo and loudness.
Although the sonata had a great impact, Tartini believed that his composition was far from what he had heard from the devil.
He had written characteristically:
“It is much inferior to what I had heard, that if I could have survived otherwise, I would have broken my violin and stopped the music forever.”
The myth or the story, created by the composer himself, around the sonata does not change and remains an excellent creation…