The Two Violinists
It has been a common belief for hundreds of years that an artist will trade their soul to the devil in exchange for unholy gifts. A typical example is the Italian violinist Niccol Paganini. It's not really unexpected that people believed his skills were obtained from an unholy source given his extreme dexterity with the instrument.
Before Paganini, however, a different violinist from Italy by the name of Giuseppe Tartini asserted that the devil appeared to him in a dream and performed the most amazing piece of music he had ever heard for him. He described the encounter as follows in an interview:
"I had a dream in the year 1713 that I had entered into a deal with the devil in exchange for my soul. Everything went according to plan, and my new servant anticipated all of my needs. I handed him my violin, among other things, to see whether he could play. How greatly I was surprised to hear a sonata that was so brilliant and beautiful, played with such tremendous artistry and intelligence, and something I had never even imagined in my wildest fantasies.
Tartini attempted to reproduce it when he awoke, and the result was the Devil's Trill Sonata, his most famous composition.
