Tartini’s Musical ‘Canonization’ in the Italian Philosophical Thinking of His Time

Still alive, Giuseppe Tartini was the subject of a gradual process of mythization as a violinist, composer, teacher and man of science. This trend is confirmed by the uncommon series of events, not only musical, by which his death was mourned (February 26, 1770) in Padua, with echo in other cities also through newspapers not ordinarily interested in music. In those same years, Italian writers and thinkers were theorizing the need to define a 'canon' of works and authors that could constitute a solid cultural and educational building in the musical field, as had already happened in other areas. On the basis of unpublished documents and testimonies, the article argues that the 'canonization', or the recognition of Tartini as a 'classic' of music and theoretical thought, was also part of this line of thought. Without neglecting references to the theories of Algarotti and Arteaga, specific attention is paid to the presence, hitherto unnoticed, of Tartini in the works of Saverio Bettinelli (Mantua, 1718 - ivi, 1808), a Jesuit literate and thinker highly esteemed among his contemporaries.