Haunting Melodies
Wednesday April 2, 2008 8:27 AM
The Devil is a fiddle player. At least, that's what we learn in the classic song, The Devil Went Down to Georgia," where the Devil appears to challenge a young fiddle player named Johnny. Johnny, according to the song, is "the best that ever was," and he knows it — so the Devil takes advantage of his sin of pride, betting him a golden violin if Johnny can outplay Old Scratch. The song, covered dozens of times since it was written (and based, itself, on a Stephen Vincent Benét poem), is a rousing mix of story and melody. It draws upon a well-established tradition in Southern folklore where the Devil shows up to wage a bet for a boastful person's soul.
The Devil's connection with the violin is much older than this 1979 Charlie Daniels Band song, however. Around 1749, the Devil reportedly appeared to a real life fiddle player and offered a pact. The "fiddle" player was none other than reknown Baroque violinist, Guiseppe Tartini. Tartini was a composer as well as a master of the violin, and he created one of his most masterful works after a very peculiar dream.
While Tartini slept, he dreamed that the Devil appeared to him and made a pact. As part of the pact, the Devil did whatever Tartini would bid him. Curious about the Devil's skill on his favorite instrument, Tartini handed Old Scratch his violin and asked him to play. In the dream, the Devil reported admitted that he could manage a few tunes, and then proceeded to play a sonata that left Tartini utterly dumbfounded. In Tartini's own words recording the event, "...imagine my surprise when I heard a sonata so unusual and so beautiful, performed with such mastery and intelligence, on a level I had never before conceived was possible!"
Tartini was so overcome with the beauty and mastery of the Devil's violin work in his dream that he awoke gasping for breath. He immediately took up his violin in the waking world and struggled to recreate the infernal melody of his dream. Although Tartini felt that he did not even come close, the resulting sonata is considered a masterwork. Tartini called it "The Devil's Trill," and anyone who's attempted to play it will admit that it seems almost inhuman in its complexity.
Comments (1)
this sounds almost like that story in Descendants of Darkness book. Where this young boy gets an eye transplant, but the eye that he ended up getting was the eye of a guy, that had made a contrate with the devil. It said something about in order for you to become the best voilienst or whatwever, you would have to give up the most prescious thing to you. And the most perscious thing to donater was his daugther. So now the devil, is going after the young boy, because he has the eye, and so now the contract is passed on to him. And i heard the way that they have 'the devils trill' played. I actually like it very much. Although its not the real thing. Oh, the guy did have the same dream a little too.
Posted by Amber | May 11, 2008 11:01 PM
Posted on May 11, 2008 23:01