Review

Giuseppe Tartini
Adagio Cantabile:

Arranged by Jaime Morales-Matos


Vancouver, BC, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2023
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Piano score

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano

Tartini was born in 1692 in Pirano in what is now Slovenia and died in Padua, Italy, in 1770. He was a virtuoso violinist, composer, and theoretician who contributed significantly to the science of acoustics. His compositions include about 150 violin concertos and over 200 sonatas.

This is a beautiful piece and is notable for its expressive use of dissonance. It enjoys well-deserved popularity and has appeared in many different arrangements. I am not able to identify any larger work it might originally have been part of, nor what might have been its original key. This arrangement is in F major. There are two sections, of 10 and 9 measures respectively, both repeated for a total of 38 measures. The tempo marking is Adagio, 80 eighth notes per minute. The trombone part is marked dolce e semplice. It’s given in bass clef, covering f to b-flat1, and is characterized by a smoothly flowing melodic line of eighth and sixteenth notes with few rests and no rest measures. A well-controlled legato is called for throughout as well as superior breath control. Dynamic range is pp to f; the final measure is marked pianissimo in both parts. The piano part is of moderate difficulty, and calls for sensitive playing.

Jaime Morales-Matos is Associate Professor of Trombone at Miami University of Ohio and Music Director of the Central Ohio Symphony in Delaware.