10 Creepy Myths Surrounding Popular Songs

Another virtuoso who allegedly sold his soul for musical prowess, Venetian composer Giussepe Tartini claimed the Devil visited him in a dream. The two compared their skills with a violin, and the Devil – being an unholy demon and all – played something so unimaginably complex, it was unlike anything Tartini had heard.

Upon waking, Tartini attempted to copy down every note, and he wound up composing the flamboyant and sinister Violin Sonata in G Minor, or Devil’s Trill Sonata.

Never quite satisfied with the finished piece, Tartini claimed that the Devil’s Trill was ultimately inferior to what he had heard in the dream, but the myth surrounding its composition persisted due to the difficulty of its double stop trills.

Whether he was lying or simply delusional, Tartini could describe the experience in great detail:

I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and I awoke. I immediately grasped my violin in order to retain, in part at least, the impression of my dream. In vain! The music which I at this time composed is indeed the best that I ever wrote, and I still call it the "Devil's Trill", but the difference between it and that which so moved me is so great that I would have destroyed my instrument and have said farewell to music forever if it had been possible for me to live without the enjoyment it affords me.