Tartini died at Padua in 1770, and so much was he revered and admired in the city where he had spent nearly fifty years of his life, that his death was regarded as a public calamity.  He used to say of himself that he never made any real progress in music till he was more than thirty years old; and it is curious that he should have made a great change in the nature of his performance at the age of fifty-two.  Instead of displaying his skill in difficulties of execution, he learned to prefer grace and expression.  His method of playing an adagio was regarded as inimitable by his contemporaries; and he transmitted this gift to his pupil Nardini, who was afterward called the greatest adagio player in the world.  Another of Tartini’s great eleves was Pugnani, who before coming to him had been instructed by Lorenzo Somis, the pupil of Corelli.  So it may be said that Pugnani united in himself the schools of Corelli and Tartini, and was thus admirably fitted to be the instructor of that grand player, who was the first in date of the violin virtuosos of modern times, Viotti.

Both as composer and performer, Pugnani was held in great esteem throughout Europe.  His first meeting with Tartini was an incident of considerable interest.  He made the journey from Paris to Padua expressly to see Tartini, and on reaching his destination he proceeded to the house of the great violinist.

Tartini received him kindly, and evinced some curiosity to hear him play.  Pugnani took up his instrument and commenced a well-known solo, but he had not played many bars before Tartini suddenly seized his arm, saying, “Too loud, my friend, too loud!” The Piedmontese began again, but at the same passage Tartini stopped him again, exclaiming this time, “Too soft, my good friend, too soft!” Pugnani therefore laid down the violin, and begged of Tartini to give him some lessons.  He was at once received among Tartini’s pupils, and, though already an excellent artist, began his musical education almost entirely anew.  Many anecdotes have been foisted upon Pugnani, some evidently the creation of rivals, and not worth repeating.  Others, on the contrary, tend to enlighten us upon the character of the man.  Thus, when playing, he was so completely absorbed in the music, that he has been known, at a public concert, to walk about the platform during the performance of a favorite cadenza, imagining himself alone in the room.  Again, at the house of Madame Denis, when requested to play before Voltaire, who had little or no music in his soul, Pugnani stopped short, when the latter had the bad taste to continue his conversation, remarking in a loud, clear voice, “M. de Voltaire is very clever in making verses, but as regards music he is devilishly ignorant.”  Pugnani’s style of play is said to have been very broad and noble, “characterized by that commanding sweep of the bow, which afterward formed so grand a feature in the performance of Viotti.”  He was distinguished as a composer as well as a player, and among his numerous works are some seven or eight operas, which were very successful for the time being on the Italian stage.