Tartini and the Enlightenment: Research Notes

The relationship between Giuseppe Tartini and the Enlightenment is complex and controversial. Of course, with Enlightenment we do not mean here so much the philosophical, political and cultural movement that marked the history of Europe during the eighteenth century as well as the complex of ideas that from this movement are reflected on instrumental music. Artist, intellectual and theorist, Tartini goes through the transition phase from the idea of music as imitation of nature to a new aesthetic approach in which music becomes a significant language for its own sake thanks to its form, structural articulation, rethorical and expressive strength. The search for aspects that connect Tartini to the Enlightenment could start from a reflection on his poetics and style, taking into consideration the models and references for instrumental expression represented by vocal cantability, italian poetry and popular and folk inspired music in the context of the changes but also of the elements of continuity occurring between the Arcadian culture and the Enlightenment.