"One night I dreamt that I had made a pact with the devil: he was my servant, and anticipated my every wish . . . I found myself handing him my violin to see if he might manage some pretty tunes; but 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! I was so overcome that I stopped breathing and awoke gasping. Immediately I seized my violin, hoping to recall some shred of what I had just heard--but in vain. The piece I then composed is without doubt my best, and I still call it the Devil's Sonata, but it falls far short of the one that stunned me that I would have smashed my violin and given up music forever if I could but possess it." --Giuseppe Tartini
Tartini's experience is strange, indeed. He apparently makes a pact with the Devil in his sleep. The story is remarkably similar to those of hoodoo-voodoo rituals. The striking similarity occurs when Tartini feels compelled to give his instrument to the devil-ish character and watches him play a tune. It is interesting that while Tartini has made a pact with the Devil, he can not remember exactly what he has learned. If he truly had traded his soul for the violin talent that he learned in his dream, why couldn't he remember it perfectly? If he hadn't made a pact with a supernatural being, how could such an unbelievably complex sonata simply appear in Tartini's dream? Those who have tried to play or analyze the Devil's Sonata(or Devil's Trill) have attested that it is a very difficult piece to play. Again, how could such an incomprehensibly creative and complex piece have just appeared in Tartini's dream?