L'arte dell'arco

Tartini L'arte dell'arco for violin solo and basso continuo ad libitum

Giuseppe Tartini invented “many different kinds and difficulties of bowing, which distinguishes his performance from all others” – said Johann Joachim Quantz about the Italian violinist in 1752.  In his work “L'arte dell'arco”, Tartini explores a gamut of playing techniques and bowing in the form of a cycle of variations for solo violin with basso continuo accompaniment ad libitum, on a gavotte by Arcangelo Corelli (from the Violin Sonata Op.5 No.10).  Since its composition – probably in the late 1720s – “L’arte” has been an important source for baroque playing techniques and forms an indispensable collection of etudes for advanced lessons.

This critical edition contains not only the 40 variations as they have been handed down in three partly fragmentary copies from Tartini’s circle and the (unauthorised) Le Clerc print of 1757, but also 17 variations (possibly early versions) from the earliest edition of “L’arte” published by Boivin in Paris in 1748 as well as 12 variations that are only available in an edition published by Marescalchi in Naples in 1788.

This performing edition, edited by Matteo Cossu, corresponds to the Urtext of the respective volume (BA11673-01) of the “Giuseppe Tartini – Edizione nazionale delle opere musicali” and contains a historical Introduction (Ital/Ger/Eng), a Critical Commentary (Eng) as well as continuo realizations of the theme in the violin part.