Giuseppe Martucci, Cesare Pollini, Oreste Ravanello and the Destiny of Tartini’s Paduan Manuscripts

In 1895 an essay by Giovanni Tebaldini brought to universal attention the presence of a considerable quantity of music by Giuseppe Tartini, primarily autographs, in the Musical Archive of the Veneranda Arca del Santo in Padua. The presidency board of the Arca soon had to deal with numerous requests for consultation and copies for study or performance purposes without having any specific rules to follow. The publica-tion of the music was among the possible solutions to this problem. The Arca appointed a commission consisting of Giuseppe Martucci, Cesare Pollini and Oreste Ravanello to assess whether and how to publish the music of Tartini preserved in the archive. How-ever, this initiative was abandoned within a few years. This contribution provides an initial account of this history based on documentary sources.