Niccolò Paganini (part II)

Apart from his supposed relationship with the Satan, the violinist was frequently accused of greed. The money he earned with his concerts made him a very rich man and enabled him to buy a Villa in 1834 near Parma (the Villa Gajona). But, despite the talk about his greed, he showed more than one proof of generosity, such as the 20,000-franc gift he offered to the French composer Hector Berlioz.

Paganini’s private life was also quite interesting. Having a relationship with many women, one of whom supposedly was the Princess Elisa from the court of Lucca, he was never married. At around 1815 he met a chorus singer Antonia Bianchi; they spent about thirteen years together and she gave him his only child, Achille. They got separated in 1828 and Paganini had to pay her considerable sums of money to be allowed to stay with his son, whom he loved very deeply. Later he told Achille that his mother had “sold him”.  

 But, no matter how intriguing all those rumours and gossips were during the musician’s lifetime and can still be now, what made Paganini so unique was definitely his music. He composed over one hundred works, among which we can find six concerts, quartets, serenatas and, of course, his famous 24 Capricci, written as violin studies. It was and still is often said, however, that Paganini the violin virtuoso greatly surpassed Paganini the composer. Personally, I do not share this opinion: his music displays great originality and possess a very dark and tender quality, which makes it instantly recognizable and different from everything ever written before or after him. 

 Talking about Paganini as violin virtuoso, his innovations were very impressive. Not only could he play the instrument at incredible speed, he also employed new techniques, such as pizzicato with both hands, unusual fingering techniques or playing a composition using only one string. There had been many talks about the last one, and some people implied that the violinist himself could have cut the other three strings in order to impress the public, which is, of course, quite possible. It is also possible, however, that those strings, which were made of catgut (animal intestines), were broken by the sheer force of the bow.

The atmosphere of Paganini’s concerts is difficult to describe and can be compared to performances given by popular pop stars nowadays. In fact, one of Paganini’s biographers, Maria Tibaldi-Chiesa, considered that he had been the first artist to become so widely popular that he attracted thousands of people, who could be now described as his fans. His incredible playing, his stage presence and his mysterious personality also made him very attractive to many women, some of whom reportedly fainted during his concerts. 

It is impossible to talk about Paganini without mentioning his violin. Attracted to gambling from a young age, the musician lost one of his violins paying his debts. At around 1802 he was donated a 1742 Guarneri violin, which stayed with him until his death. Paganini treated his Guarneri as though it were alive, and while he was playing the instrument, it appeared that it was actually attached to his arm. Though the violin was Paganini’s main instrument, he also played guitar and viola.

In the 20^th and 21^st centuries Paganini’s figure has continued to arouse interest and there were several films dedicated to his life, such as the miniseries Niccolò Paganini, directed by Leonid Menaker in 1982, or the film The Devil’s Violinist, directed by Bernard Rose, which is now in a post-production stage.  There are also numerous biographies about Paganini, as well as fictional stories based on his life. 

It is not always easy to separate Paganini’s real life from the legends created during his lifetime or after his death, and, with a life as complex as his, some exaggerations are inevitable. It is difficult therefore to determine what arouses more interest nowadays, rumours surrounding his incredible figure or his unique music. What is certain, however, is that the memory of the violinist and the composer from Genoa is still alive and will surely be in the years to come.

   

Material used:

Stratton, Stephen Samuel (1907), ‘Nicolo Paganini. His Life and Work’, E. Shore and Co., London.

Тибальди-Кьеза, Мария (1981), "Паганини", изд. Молодая Гвардия, ЖЗЛ (Tibaldi-Chiesa, Maria, ‘Paganini’).

Neill, Edward (1995), ‘The history of Nicolò Paganini’s violin’ (pp. 13-32), ‘Paganini’s violin. Its history, sound and photographs’, Edizioni Dynamic, Genoa, Italy.

Neill, Edward (1995), ‘Chronology of Paganini’s life’ (pp. 33-42), ‘Paganini’s violin. Its history, sound and photographs’, Edizioni Dynamic, Genoa, Italy.

Berlioz, Hector (2008), ‘Mémoires’, EBook, www.gutenberg.org.

Earls, Jason, ‘Nicolo Paganini. The World’s Greatest Violinist’, http://www.lifeinitaly.com/music/niccolo-paganini.asp, accessed on May 20^th, 2013.

Niccolò Paganini (part I)

“But finally there appeared on the stage a dark figure that seemed to have ascended from the underworld. This was Paganini in his first black gala. The black tailcoat and the black vest from a bloodcurdling tailor, who was perhaps prescribed by the hellish etiquette at the court of Proserpine. […] In the angular bending of his body lay a dreadful woodenness, and simultaneously something clownishly bestial, that must cause a strange risibility to come upon us; but his face, that seemed even more cadaverously white under the garish orchestra lighting, had something so beseeching, so idiotically humble, that a horrible compassion suppressed our impulse to merriment. Had he picked up these ceremonies from an automaton, or from a dog?” That description of Paganini, made by Heinrich Heine in his unfinished novel Florentine Nights, gives us a perfect example of how the Italian composer and violinist was often seen by his contemporaries. He was greatly admired and venerated as the best violinist that the world had ever known, but was considered, at the same time, a very controversial figure.

A portrait of Paganini painted by his friend 

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in 1819
(This picture was taken from Wikipedia
and is currently in public domain.)

Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa, on October 27^th, 1782. His father, Antonio, was a small shop owner. Being a music lover and a mandolin player himself, Antonio taught his son to play that instrument, as well as the guitar. Niccolò had several violin teachers and, in 1796, started giving concerts in different Italian towns. From 1805 to 1809 he worked at the Court of Lucca for the Princess Elisa Baciocchi, one of Napoleon’s sisters, continuing his numerous concert tours in Europe. In 1835 he took over as the Parma Court superintendent, but abandoned the post the next year. In 1837 he opened a casino in Paris, but was sued two years later for refusing to play inside the casino and thus breaking the contract with the directors. He suffered from numerous illnesses, including consumption, syphilis and Larynx cancer, and died on May 27^th, 1840.  
             Paganini’s life was mysterious and controversial both during his lifetime and after his death. The most common rumour was the one related to his supposed Deal with the Devil, who, according to that gossip, taught him to play the violin. His highly innovative technique was therefore attributed to that pact. It is probable that the violinist was not bothered at first by that kind of fabrications – he was one of the first artistic personalities concerned by their public image, and reinforced his already mysterious character with long hair and black clothes. However, when the gossips went too far and began damaging his reputation, Paganini decided to deny them, publishing a letter from his mother with the intention of proving that his parents were human. It was partly because of those rumours and partly due to the fact that the musician had refused to receive the last sacrament from the Church when he was dying, that he had been denied the burial for five years after his death. 

Hello!

Hello!

Thank you for visiting my blog, which is dedicated to short biographies of different composers and will be regularly updated. I have been fascinated by music for years, have been reading about composers of different centuries quite a lot and will be very happy to share what I have learnt. All your comments will be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Natalia.