An autograph memoir written in 1767, in his old age, by Tartini (who had been concert master
in the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua since 16 April 1721) contained a report about his income
of the last forty years. Here he also mentioned his activity as a music teacher in Padua, which
had started in 1727 and was addressed to groups of two to ten students, including some talented
but poor ones who did not pay for his teaching. What Tartini was referring to was the so-called
“School of Nations”, that is the private activity as a violin and counterpoint teacher he carried out
at the same time as that for the Basilica of St. Anthony as «first violin and concert master». This
name was given to Tartini’s school because in forty years he taught music to countless violinists
who came to Padua practically from all Europe. In a letter to the secretary of a German count,
Tartini declared that he had “many Protestant and Saxon students, and Prussian, Dutch and
English ones”. Thanks to these students, Tartini’s violin technique and style were disseminated
all over Europe, particularly at the courts of Dresden, Stuttgart, Munich, Würzburg and Paris.