Giuseppe Tartini - Lettere e documenti / Pisma in dokumenti / Letters and Documents - Volume / Knjiga / Volume I

68 In the second half of the century, other papers based mainly on the letters were published: 13 Ivano Cavallini analysed the exchanges on music theory topics with G.B. Martini; 14 Anna Laura Bellina transcribed seven letters from the Museo Correr of Venice, 15 which were discussed a few years later in a study by Margherita Canale; 16 Sergio Cella edited the volume Inediti tartiniani in which the Trieste letters are tran- scribed; and Luca Del Fr published the whole copious correspondence with Riccati. 17 The first attempt at a complete and systematic collection of the autograph letters by Tartini was by Pierluigi Petrobelli around the middle of the last century, but it remained unfinished. 18 Petrobelli himself in 1997 describes the state of work on the correspondence in the article Per un'edizione delle lettere di Tartini . 19 As he points out, the urgency of publishing Tartini’s collection of letters became clear when the over 200 letters currently available became known. 20 These documents proved fundamental for defining the personality of an eclectic and interesting artist, from both professional and human points of view. The usefulness of the collection of letters is enhanced by a large amount of precious information on people and events from the Italian musical scene in the 18th century, on cultural exchanges between different European regions and on everyday life in the Venetian territories. The present work was therefore created from a desire to provide an updated tool for future research on the life and work of a key figure in Veneto and European cultural history. The sheer variety of the topics discussed in the letters provides scope for different interpretations. They can be the source of biographical and philological reflection, and also the basis for further study of the evolution of music pedagogy and the history of cul- ture, ideas and music aesthetics. Some articles have already highlighted the importance of this material as a support for research on Tartini and studies of the 18th century. In 1962 Rouvel used the aforementioned group of Swedish letters to outline a history of music at the court of Waldeck in Arolsen; and Petrobelli made use of a letter to G.B. Martini in a study on theatre history and performance practice in the mid 18th century. With regard to Tartini studies themselves, we must first mention Petrobelli’s volume of 13 The most important are mentioned here. Tartini letters have been transcribed or used as sources in other publications that will be indicated in the General Index of the Letters and Documents . 14 Cavallini, 1980. 15 Bellina, 1991: pp. 298-303. 16 Canale, 1994. 17 Del Fra, 2007. 18 The research and transcription of the sources, carried out with the collaboration of his former students Roberto Grisley, Gloria Staffieri and Pierpaolo Polzonetti, started in around the year 1947. See Petrobelli, 1997: pp. 9-16. 19 Petrobelli, 2002: pp. 71-80. 20 Ibidem: p. 72.