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

72 1. The lost sources 1.1 Problems concerning the loss and preservation of the epistolary sources What Alessandro Perosa 28 has written about the problems relating to the publication of humanistic collections of letters proves useful for outlining the difficulties in the recen- sion and subsequent analysis of the manuscript Tartini epistolary sources. Among the first questions that arise are those pertaining to how the sources were preserved or lost, which partly depend on the fact that the epistolary genre was also considered, already at the time of its production, to be a literary product and was transmitted as such. There are two main ways of transmitting a collection of letters: by the sender himself or by the recipients, but in addition to these there are a series of different (more or less problem- atic) possibilities that make it necessary to study each single case in detail. In the typical places in which epistolary sources are preserved, i.e. libraries and ar- chives, it is possible to encounter (increasingly rarely, fortunately) difficulties arising from the lack of a catalogue or printed register: extremely important tools for tracking materials that have often been sold by private parties. In the examination of the Tartini sources, we come up against a significant loss of materials, above all in the letters reply- ing to those sent by Tartini, from his numerous correspondents. Pierluigi Pietrobelli, in his article Per un’edizione delle lettere di Tartini , 29 claims to have collected two hundred and thirty-two letters, including in this number also some letters by the correspondents. Within this substantial material it has been possible to identify certain groups that, for quantity and frequency, can be called real correspondences. Among these, the group of letters which Tartini exchanged with Padre Giambattista Martini is the largest. From a summary analysis, what one notes is the great difference in numbers between the ninety-two letters sent by Tartini and the mere six by Padre Martini. References to the many missing letters are found in the first lines of a number of the letters, such as that dated 14 November 1737, in which Tartini tries to satisfy a request from Count Cornelio Pepoli 30 to accept a new student, in spite of his commitment to teach an al- ready numerous group. I have received, in your dearest letter to me, the directions of the Most Illustrious Signor Conte Cornelio Pepoli: directions too precious, for my fortune and my honour. Therefore it is not necessary to discuss whether I should obey or not, as it is presumed. However, there is much to discuss about the way and the time. 31 28 Perosa, 2000: pp. 14-16. 29 Petrobelli, 2002: pp. 71-80. 30 Cornelio Pepoli (Count, 1708-1777) Bolognese intellectual, dedicatee of the Dodici Sonate d’in- tavolatura per l’organo, e il cembalo (Amsterdam 1742) by Padre Martini. 31 Letter 13.