Paganini and the Violin

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This very day in 1840, marks the day that the life of the great violin virtuoso and composer, Niccolo Paganini came to an end. Listen to his most famous work, Caprice No.24 performed by Maxim Vengerov:


October 27, 1782, Genoa [Italy] - May 27, 1840, Nice, France)

After initial study with his father, Paganini studied with a local violinist, G. Servetto, and then with the celebrated Giacomo Costa. At the age of 11, the young Paganini made his first appearance and the studied with Alessandro Rolla and Gaspare Ghiretti in Parma (where Paganini's tomb can be found). In 1797, in his mid-teens, Paganini toured Lombardy, where with each concert, his reputation grew. Gaining his independence soon after, Niccolo indulged excessively in gambling and romantic love affairs, so much so that at one point he pawned his valuable Amati violin due to gambling debts. Fortunately, a French merchant lent him a Guarneri violin to play a concert and, after hearing him, gave him the instrument.
 
'Il Cannone Guarnerius' the violin which Paganini was given and which he loved and played on for the rest of his life.

Between 1801 and 1807, he wrote the 24 Capricci for unaccompanied violin, displaying the revolutionary features of his technique. Having returned to Italy in 1805, he was appointed director of music at Piombino by Napoleon's sister, Élisa Bonaparte Baciocchi. He gave recitals of his compositions and would also improvise brilliantly. He was a flamboyant showman who would go so far as to sever one or two violin strings in order to demonstrate how well he could continue playing on the remaining strings. 

A poster for one of Paganini's concerts

However, Paganini sought to make fortune elsewhere by investing in 'Casino Paganini', a gambling house which failed. This made him leave for Marseilles and then to Nice, France. Paganini's romantic personality, adventures, stories circulating that he was in league with the devil and that he had been imprisoned for murder meant that his burial in consecrated ground was delayed for five years. 

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia


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