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.