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

424 orchestra from respective impresarios, and as a consequence many Paduan musicians remain excluded; and more than once the entire orchestra has been engaged by the ruling city, so that not even one of the Paduan musicians has had a place in the theatre. These sources being taken away from them, they conclude that the tax falls on their salary, and they therefore request its reintegration from the Ark in accordance with their contracts, and they assert that they would have asked for a larger sum, if at the time of the respective contracts they had had to pay the tax. The Presidency knows the quality and the weight of the appeal. But since the sum of four thousand ducats has been prescribed, on the part of the public authority, to be spent on the music serving the Ark, and since these are fully employed and used up in the respective salaries, it appeals to the public mercy, so that a rule be prescribed for the new situation, humbly reflecting that the Venerable Ark has always been the subject of public benefaction and has enjoyed for itself precious amnesties and exemptions, distributed by the public munificence on those persons who alone are destined to its religious service. The Presidency, however, is ready to respect with the fullest resignation the decision by Your Serenity on this matter. Thanking you, etc. 138. Tartini to G.B. Martini I am too anxious and troubled in my soul to put off any further writing to Your Reverence, who alone can give me respite and lift my spirit. Two matters trouble me greatly, and have been doing so for a considerable time. One of them is your book, 85 the fate of which I still do not know, although I go searching for everything of yours, along with others who are equally concerned. The other one is the lack of news about the state of Signor Ventura Rochetti, 86 singer of His Majesty the King of Poland, who came to Bologna on his way to Rome, but was detained there by misfortune; I do not know what has happened to him after corresponding with him for a few months. I ask Your Reverence to do me the kindness and favour of giving me these two pieces of news, which are necessary to reassure my soul, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you, thus adding to my many other obligations. 85 The first volume of the above-mentioned Storia della Musica (History of Music). 86 Ventura (or Venturo) Rocchetti, a castrato also known as Venturini. See Petrobelli, 1974; also in Petrobelli, 1992: pp. 163-164.