The Devil’s Sonata

Strawdog Theatre, Chicago

About the Show

Visions & Voices Theatre Company (V&VTC) presents the world premiere dramedy The Devil’s Sonata, by Mark Glinski, featuring live violin music by Poi Dog Pondering’s Susan Voelz. Under Satan’s influence, the master composer and violinist Giuseppe Tartini confronts the dark, hidden sources of his inspiration to conceive music much greater than any he had thought possible. This Faustian plot sees Tartini anguish for excellence amongst virtuosi in 1766, while Satan – not a cunning Mephistopholes, but a respectful, disarmingly direct and downright funny conversationalist – tempts him with the return of his beloved, yet deceased, wife, and this devilish new music that will transport his soul more than his religion. Based on the real-life Baroque composer, considered one of the greats of the age (and discoverer of Tartini’s tones and a style of bowing that is still practiced), and his posthumously published, and perhaps most famous composition “La Sonata Del Diavolo in G Minor” (‘The Devil’s Trill’), as well as the legend behind the piece’s conception.