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

318 65. Tartini to F. Algarotti First of all, I give infinite thanks to my kindest Lord Count, my patron, as you have wholeheartedly dedicated yourself to the employment and establishment of my dearest student Pasqual Bini in some distinguished court. I beg you more than ever to solicit, as much as you can, this favour, so great for me, and I assure you again that you shall have great honour therefrom. Secondly, I must inform you (as a good servant) to limit my praises with this marvellous monarch. As on the one hand he is too wise in every matter, and on the other your love for me exceeds any merit and any talent of mine. And although this love is very dear and most precious to me, I could never allow it to be harmful to such a patron of mine, as could easily happen in the present case, in which I am obliged by your command to send my compositions 40 there to be examined and judged by this monarch. I blindly obey you, as I shall always do, but may God assist you. The gamble in the performance adds to this, since it is equally as impossible that another man (whoever he may be) might match my character and my expression with precision, as it is impossible for another man to look exactly like me. Nonetheless, so that my character and intention be known, I must say that I have as much contact as possible with nature, and as little as possible with art: not possessing, as I do, any art other than the imitation of nature. Actually, in this advanced age, no longer being able to connect to the particular nature of my species, I am attaching myself as much as I can to general universal nature and I find sufficient and fulfilling pleasure in this. May you preserve your patronage for me, which I cordially esteem above all others, and with the greatest certainty that is humanly possible, believe me to be, with the utmost reverence I remain My Lord Count Patron and Lord’s most humble, devoted and obliged servant Giuseppe Tartini Padua, 20 November 1749 40 It has been conjectured that included in this group of compositions were Tartini’s concertos for flute. The concertos may have been sent to the court of Frederick II of Prussia, a talented flautist. See “Contributi dei seminari di studio di Padova e Roma dell’anno accademico 1991-1992, Fonti tartiniane: alcune annotazioni”, in Tartini il tempo e le opere , Bombi-Massaro, 1994: pp. 395-396.