Collaboration between the WEAVE project "Tartinians" and RISM supports the long-term preservation of project data

Andrea Zedler

Thursday, April 2, 2026

The WEAVE research project Tartinians – The School of Nations and its networks, based at the Universities of Graz and Augsburg, as well as the Schola Cantorum in Basel, was launched in April 2025. It examines the pedagogical work of Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770) and his students primarily on three levels: (1) professional biographies and networks of the students, (2) musical output, and (3) pedagogical writings. All the information about Tartini’s students is summarized in a database developed specifically for the project, their musical output is also cataloged, and Tartini’s pedagogical writings – as a rule preserved in the form of notes taken by his students which sometimes differ from one another – are also edited.

The Augsburg subproject focuses primarily on the musical output of the Scuola delle nazioni, the activities of Tartini’s students at the courts of the Holy Roman Empire, and 18th-century violin pedagogy in the light of Tartini’s teachings. Most of the musical sources collected during the project will be cataloged in RISM for the first time, while existing RISM entries will also be elaborated on.

As an example, here is a description created by the project group about a manuscript copy preserved in Vienna, featuring a duo sonata by Domenico Ferrari (1722–1780): RISM-Catalog | RISM Online.

Of particular importance for the project is the documentation of incipits, which allow for the comparison of concordances and variants, as well as the examination of melodic relationships. The collaboration with RISM ensures the long-term preservation of project data and provides an ideal starting point for in-depth data analysis in relation to the project’s key research questions. Upon completion of the project, the data collected in RISM will also be linked to the Tartinians project database.

To document the current status of our work, a project blog has been set up.

Image: First page of the Basso part from an undated manuscript of Giuseppe Tartini’s Sonata in C, No. 3, for Violino Solo e Basso, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (A-Wn), Mus.Hs.12722 MUS MAG. Source: ÖNB Digital/Österreichische Nationalbibliothek

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