Intro

Paganini! Paganini, Paganini, Mortal, demon, witch or genie, Mephistophelean maestro Of the mystic violin! With the sting of your staccato And your prickly pizzicato, When you'd diddle on your fiddle It was little short of sin ! Paganini, Paganini, Lean and lanky like linguine, With a manner that was manic And satanic when you played, How your haunting hint of Hades Would inflame the local ladies! You were fiery, you were wiry, You were very often laid! Paganini, Paganini, You're the fiddler's own Houdini, A magician-come-musician, Be you devil, be you man! Give the opera buffs Rossini, Give 'em Verdi and Puccini. Call me geek or call me weenie, I'm a Paganini fan! The this information was taken from Geniuses.html Geniuses.html Paganini Poem

Niccolo Paganini “Sickly since his birth on October 27, 1782 in Genoa, Paganini's virtuosity was astounding. He began playing the violin at age seven at the insistence of his father, Antonio Paganini. Antonio Paganini was a mediocre mandolin player who forced his son to practice long hours. At the age of thirteen, Niccolo was sent to study with a famous violin teacher named Alessandro Rolla. Rolla, upon hearing young Niccolo play, refused to take Niccolo as a student because he claimed he could teach Niccolo nothing. Niccolo continued playing and performing in his native land, and soon received a reputation of being the best violinist in Italy. People began to speculate about Paganini's great talent, and began to wonder about his gift. Paganini became known as a "Hexensohn" or witch's brat (de Saussine, Paganini 113). Paganini's demonic reputation became so widespread that his talent was often attributed to the belief that he had help from the devil. “ Information was taken from Virtuoso or Devil?

Paganini began touring Europe when he was in his early forties. At the time, no one had ever seen or heard anyone, or anything, quite like Paganini. For a time, Paganini capitalized on this difference by encouraging the rumors of his supernatural abilities. It was common for him to arrive at a concert in a black coach drawn by black horses. Paganini himself would wear black. Schwarz states that Paganini would enter the stage late, like a non-terrestrial creature, and bow to the audience(Great Masters of the Violin 181). Dark Image

Paganini is the father of modern violin technique. One innovation Paganini began is the practice of memorization. Violinists before Paganini always used music during a concert. Paganini, on the other hand, would boldly walk onto the stage, shake back his long black hair, place his violin under his chin, and begin to play without the aid of music. Audiences were astounded. They marveled at the thought of one man memorizing an entire program of music. The current practice of memorization was attributed to Paganini's supernatural abilities. New techniques

Interesting Facts: He had excessive flexibility in the joints. This enabled Paganini to perform the astonishing double-stopping and roulades for which he was famous. His wrist were so lose he could move and twist them in all directions. In performance he enjoyed playing tricks like tuning his strings a semitone high or playing the majority of a piece of one string after breaking the other three.

His Playings His playings were so often so beautiful that his audiences often burst into tears. His music was so difficult it was commonly thought he entered into a pack with the devil. When he played he would earn large sums of money.

Important Dates: Began to perform in public and composed his first sonata in In 1797 he started concert tours. In he was the court solo violinist at Luca’s, appointed by Napoleon's sister Elisa Bacciocchi. In 1809 Nicolo became a free lance soloist performing his own music and he performed concerts through Italy. In early 1828 Nicolo began a 6 and a half hour tour that started in Vienna and ended in Paris In September

Life Dates Nicolo Paganini was born in Italy on October 27, 1782 He was one of six children born to Teresa and Antonio Paganini He died in Nice, France on, May 27, 1840

The myth surrounding Paganini lingered even after his death on May 27, Since Paganini had refused the final sacrament, he could not be buried. His remains were kept in a basement for five years until his family petitioned to have them buried. Many people speculated on his refusal of the sacrament. Some said he did not believe that he would die, while others said he was a non- believer (Sachs 32). The result of his refusal of the final sacrament once again raised the question of Paganini's origin. Paganini's origin was not in Hell as the myth propagates. Paganini's accomplishments were due to his diligence and hard work. Few realize the amount of practice required to perform effortlessly. Paganini had the gift to not only create beautiful music, but to create an entertaining performance. His Death

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