The Devil’s Sonata, the fruit of a demonic pact?

The pacts with the devil populate the legends and universal literature. In we have told you about several alleged pacts with the devil such as that of Urbain Grandier or Baudelaire. In the field of music there are several legends such as that of Paganini or that of the guitarist who sold his soul to the devil. Tartini’s Devil’s Sonata, the fruit of a demonic pact?

The Devil’s Sonata, the fruit of a demonic pact?

In the case of Niccolo Paganini, legend has it that the devil offered him extraordinary skill as a violinist in exchange for his soul. In reality, this mastery with the instrument was the result of a disease known as Marfán syndrome.

The sonata that concerns us today was composed by another distinguished musician, Giuseppe Tartini, in 1713. The particularity of this piece also known as «The devil’s trill» It was exposed by Tartini himself. The musician he dreamed that he made a pact with the devil and he composed an unbeatable sonata. When he woke up he composed a piece that, despite saying himself that it was not as extraordinary as the one in the dream, is the best of all his work.

Did he really make a pact with the devil and disguise it as a dream? Did she want to create a controversy around her work to make her famous? What she did achieve is that a legend was woven around him and? the «Violin Sonata in G minor» became popularly known as «The Devil’s Sonata» or «The devil’s trill.» These were his words, collected by the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande in his book «Voyage d’un François en Italie»:

“One night, in 1713, I dreamed that I had made a pact with the Devil and he was at my command. Everything was going wonderfully well for me; All my desires were anticipated and more than satisfied by my new servant. It happened that at one point I gave him my violin and challenged him to play some romantic piece for me. My astonishment was enormous when I heard him play, with great bravery and intelligence, a sonata as singular and romantic as he had never heard before… »

Here you have the Sonata that Tartini composed after the dream of the pact with the devil.

In 1715, Tartini became ethe first owner of a violin which he himself had manufactured Antonio Stradivari. made important innovations in the musical field, as the discovery of a third note produced in the tonal combination of 2 notes simultaneously for a certain time and a new technique to handle the bow of the violin. Tartini lived to be 77 years old and composed 150 concertos and more than 100 sonatas, being the best of them Devil’s Sonata.

If you have been interested in this story, you may want to know more curiosities about the pacts with the devil.