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

93 INTRODUCTION from the relations that Tartini had maintained with him already for a few years. 141 On 7 September 1736, Tartini replied to a request to start the negotiations for the printing of the work: [...] I have served Your Most Reverend Lordship only yesterday in the command that you deemed fit to give me, regarding the printing of your work 142 . My delay was caused by a debt which I had with the Dutch Printer, to whom I did not wish to write before having provided him with what I owed him; and this was only done yesterday. Therefore, today I give you notice thereof, assuring you that this interest of yours is also my concern, even to the extent that I shall take much more care over it than if it were my own. [...] 143 In November of the same year, the negotiation seems to be proceeding unhindered: [2 November 1736] [...] I have received a reply from Holland, and the printer grants all your conditions, be- cause he finds them to be honest (his exact words), Your Reverence should therefore be kind enough to start corresponding with him, and he adds no further conditions to the transaction, excepting being in too much of a hurry, due to other works he has on his hands. Meanwhile, Your Reverence could send him one or two sonatas as a trial, as he indicates he would appreciate it if that could be done. [...] 144 The rough draft of the letter in French sent by Martini to Le Cène a few days lat- er, 145 for which he did not receive a reply until May 1739, 146 is preserved in Bologna. During the wait, Tartini tries in the letters to lessen Martini’s reasonable concern, attributing the cause of the delay to his own failure to send Le Cène the material he had promised. Charles”, in Ng. 141 Tartini’s first collection of sonatas ( Sonate a Violino e Violoncello ) was published by Le Cène in Amsterdam in 1734. 142 Tartini is acting as a mediator between Martini and Le Cène over the publication of the Sonate d’intavolatura , subsequently published in 1742. 143 Letter 9. 144 Letter 10. 1736, 2 November. Tartini to G.B. Martini. 145 Letter 16. 1738, 16 May. Tartini to G.B. Martini. 146 See Letter 18, where Tartini writes “The bad influence of the Dutch printer still continues, and no letters or other notifications of any sort have been seen. May Your Reverence do something which shall benefit you, and perhaps myself as well. Write to him again just once, and in your letter mention your displeasure in my interest. Say that you have written to me to hear news thereof, and that I have replied to you that many months after sending him my compositions I have not even seen the statement of receipt. May Your Reverence carry out this last attempt and let us wait and see what comes of it.”