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

296 distinct oscillation occurs, which, impressing on the air an undulation which is successive and precise, makes it so that the sound carries to the greatest possible distance. But if, on the contrary, one presses the string perpendicularly when bowing, two different oscillations are born thereof, one perpendicular, the other horizontal; therefore mixing with one another, and mutually destroying one another, the undulation of the air is no longer simple and direct, but swirling and uncertain; and therefore just as the sound can only be harsh and noisy from nearby, for the same reason it cannot extend itself, as in the first case, to an equal distance. I then realised why your violin distinguishes itself above all other violins, and why your bowing sounds so pleasant and so delicate. If I did not fear to offend your great modesty, I could honour your studies and your merit both in your art and in harmonic science much further; but it shall be sufficient to me that you are convinced that I love you and hold you in great esteem; and that I did not intend to offend you, when on the occasion of talking to you about your last concert held at S. Antonio, I asked you again, why it was that at your sonata I felt so enraptured by wonder, without any involvement of the heart, whereas a sweet inner commotion of affections awakens in me at the melodious and unison sound of the bagpipes ( zampogna ) and German hand organs ( organini tedeschi ). You became almost enraged, and although you demonstrated from the reason given that you were convinced of it, even in your last letter you joke about the German hand organs and, recommending that I should absolutely let you know my observations on music, you promise me that you will make me forget them as soon as I listen to your new chamber sonatas, designed to represent the various affections and passions of man. I am impatient to hear them, and meanwhile, my dear Tartini, I embrace you with all my heart. From Venice, 21 August 1743 41. Tartini to Giuseppe Valeriano Vannetti 27 In order to better serve Your Most Illustrious Lordship, I have had to delay until this moment the reply to your most kind and learned letter. First, it is superfluous that Your Most Illustrious Lordship should waste energy in making yourself known to me. I know your family, as do all those whose borders extend beyond the walls of the city they were born in. And then I had the fortune of having particularly served, as Your Most Illustrious Lordship reminds me, your Most Illustrious uncle in Verona. I have a debt, 27 Giuseppe Valeriano Vannetti (1719-1764) was a prominent member of the learned aristocracy of Rovereto. He founded the Accademia degli Agiati and participated in its activities for a long time. His epistolary relationship with Tartini mainly concerns the dealings with the Dutch printers Le Cène, then De La Coste. See Allegri, 2002: pp. 1-2 and Viverit, 2004: p. 21.