LITTLE

BIOGRAPHIES

PAGANINl
BREITKOPF PUBLICATIONS. Inc.
New YORK CITV
 Little Biographies
Wy Frederick H. Martems
'with illustrations

PAGANINI

BREITKOPF PUBLICATIONS, Inc.

1625BROADWAY
NEW YORK
 Copyright 1922

By Brettkopf 6C Hartel, Inc.

New York
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Bellini, V. Ornstein, Leo
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 NICCOLO PAGANINI
In considering the life of this famous artist, it must
always be remembered that there are two Niccolo
Paganinis. The life-story of the Paganini of romance
and legend is a glowing and fascinating novel of adven-
ture, reflecting demoniac fires, for the artist was said
to have sold his soul to the devil as the price of his
supernatural mastery of his instrument. The biography
of the real Paganini, hardly less colorful and rich in
incident, is the tale of a career so astounding, a fame
—
so universal, that practically but one other artist Franz
—
Liszt holds a similar place in musical history. Paga-
nini's creative work in music — aside, perhaps, from the
—
"Twenty-four Caprices"; is negligible, but as an inter-
preter who could play On the heart-strings of every
human emotion to a degree which almost justifies the
tales of satanic possession circulated wherever he ap-
peared, he knows no rival to this day. The popular
phrase, "He plays like Paganini", still used to express
the ultimate heights of violin playing, though the great
Genoese himself has been resting in his grave for more
than eighty years, is the greatest praise which may be
given an interpreting artist. In noting the difference
between the Paganini of legend and of actuality, it must
not be forgotten that legend cannot be dismissed
as irrelevant and unimportant. It stands for the crys-
tallization of the great mass of public opinion, beneath
its possible extravagances and embellishments are hidden
essential truths, and this fact has been borne in mind
in this story of Paganini's life. What may appear absurd
or apocryphal of itself is .often. ._qf .value in casting a
light on various phases of a strange and obscure per-
sonality, and the Paganini of fact cannot well be
divorced from the Paganini of myth and fiction if the
tale of his life and accomplishment is to be told in full.
We* must remember, too, that Paganini's musical
achievement, like his life-story is phantasmagoric,
visional, a "kind of dream -picture in which truth and
falsehood, elements spiritually important and alien, per-
haps even unbeautiful in origin, were inextricably
mingled in a strange and curious whole."

PAGANINI'S EARLY YEARS

The mysterious star of legend illumines Paganini[s

earliest years. What was the name Paganin but a vari-
ant of the word pagano, z. pagan? It was rumored that
Satan had watched over his birth, hailing the boy as
his "snarer of souls." A visionary had dreamt that he
had seen the devil play upon a violin "from which flames
broke forth, and then hand the burning instrument to
the child ..." Genoa, in that last decade of the
eighteenth century, was known as a city in which the
evil Madre Natura — a secret society of heretics and
devil-worshippers — celebrated its sacrilegious black
masses, and struggled to undermine the beneficent in-
fluence of Holy Church and the blessings of its dis-
pensation. It is not strange that, under the circum-
stances, the mysterious star of demoniac legend shone
balefully on Paganini's earlier years. Born in Genoa,
October 27, f782, the son of a poor ship-chandler,
Antonio Paganini, and his wife Teresa Bocciardi, the
violinist himself declares that after he came into the
world, "the Saviour appeared to my mother in a dream,
and told her to ask some blessing of Him she begged
;

that her son might become a great violinist, which grace

was vouchsaved her." And it is this last statement
which disproves the others, for, though Paganini died
without having received the supreme unction, it was only
because he did not think his death was imminent, and
had told his confessor that "when the moment came he
would not fail in his supreme duty as a believer". And
the action of the Church, after due investigation, in
permitting his body; by dispensation of the Holy Father,
to be laid in consecrated ground with religious rites,
in his son's Villa Gaiona in Palma, effectually disposes
of the tales of his satanic affiliations.
 Paganini's father, a passionate music-lover, though
he lacked a musical ear, taught his son the elements
of violin-playing at an early age; but his first profes-
sional teachers were the not very competent Giovanni
Servetto and, later, Giacomo Costa. When eight years
old he had already written a violin sonata and played
a Pleyel Concerto in church. Francesco Gnecco, a
dramatic author, is said to have exercised an influence
on his style at this period. When in his eleventh year
he gave his first public concert in the Teatro San Agos-
tino, playing his variations on the "Carmagnole," a tune
—
very popular at the time in Genoa which was in the
fullest sympathy with the principles of the French Revo-
lution— and exciting the interest of a certain Marquis
Di Negro, who induced Niccolo's father to take him to
Parma, so that he might study with "famous masters".
When brought to the celebrated Alessandro Rolla, he
picked up a new concerto by that composer and played
it with such fire and brilliancy at first sight that^Rolla's

horn spectacles are said to have fallen from his nose.

He cried that there was nothing he could teach the
boy; yet Paganini did study with him for some months
before returning to Genoa, however, and also took les-
sons in composition from Ghiretti. On his return to his
native city he began to devote ten^ and twelve hours a
day to the perfection of his f echnique, writing compo-
sitions so difficult that he alone could play them. This
overindulgence in study at so early an age helped to
give him a sickly, nerve-wracked constitution, and a
tendency for convulsive fits, which continued through
life. From 1792 to 1797 Paganini studied and
—
played deaf to the political turmoil of the world and
entirely withdrawn from it. He was quite oblivious to
the terrible siege of Genoa (1800), held by the French
under Massena against the Austrians, secluding himself
with his studies for days at a time. But he also began
to give concerts. In November, 1800, he appeared in
Lucca, with great success, as well as in Pisa, Leghorn
— —
and other Tuscan cities and sad to say removed from
the paternal influence his life on tour was anything but
edifying. He gave himself up to the hectic excitement
of the gaming-table and the society of women of ill-
repute, and finally, having lost even "his violin at cards,
was enabled to play his Leghorn concert only because
an admirer named Livron presented him with the superb
Joseph Guarnerius (dated 1743) which he willed to his
native city, and which is still preserved in the Municipal
Palace of Genoa, where visiting renowned artists are
invited to play it by the city fathers as a special mark
of distinction. There is little information available as to
what Paganini did between 1801 and 1805 save that (as
he himself Says) he "gave himself up to the study of
agriculture, and learned to play the guitar/' with the
same virtuosity which distinguished his violin playing.
The fact that his agricultural studies were pursued on
the estate of a charming lady who was an enthusiastic
guitarrist may, of course, have something to do with
his interest in these subjects. His six sonatas for violin
and guitar, Op. 2 and 3, date from this period. In
1805, Paganini once more devoted himself to concert-tours.
His wanderings brought him to Lucca, where Prince
Felice Bacciochi and the Princess Elisa Bonaparte, the
sister of Napoleon, held their court. Here, at a noc-
turnal church festival, he aroused such unbounded en-
thusiasm among the worshippers that the brethren of
the Order were obliged to leave their places to suppress
the manifestations of approval.

PAGANINI AT THE COURT OF LUCCA

Paganini, appointed Solo Court Violinist and teacher

to Prince Bacciochi, remained in Lucca for three years,
perfecting his individual technique, and in particular,
his wonderful mastery of the G-string. He
has written
interestingly of his stay: "My
position obliged me to
play two weekly concerts, and I always improvised, ac-
companied by the piano, for which I wrote a bass upon
whose foundation I developed a theme. ...
I con-
ducted the orchestra whenever the sovereigns appeared
at the opera. The Princess Elisa, however, always dis-
appeared before my Court concerts came to an end,
since my harmonics often affected her nerves, causing
her to faint when listening to me, and she withdrew
rather than deprive others of the pleasure of listening
to me. An especially charming lady, whom I had wor-
8
ACCLAMATION OF PAGANINI AT THE END OF
ONE OF HIS CONCERTS
 ;

shipped for some time in secret, was very faithful at

these concerts, and I began to believe that she might
cherish a hidden preference for ma Our attachment
for each other increased, and one day I promised to sur-
prise her at the next concert with a musical compliment
having reference to our union of friendship and affec-
tion. At the same time I announced to the Court that
I would present a 'Love Scene' as a novelty, which
aroused much curiosity. Imagine the astonishment of
my audience when it discovered that my violin was fitted
with but two strings. I had retained only the G and
the E strings; the latter was to express the maiden's
sentiments, the former was to represent the voice of
an impassioned lover. I had written for the purpose a
species of tender, sentimental dialogue, in which the
sweetest phrases alternated with jealous outbursts.
There were airs which in turn caressed and deplored
there were outcries of rage and joy, of anguish and
happiness. Of course I ended the scene with a recon-
ciliation, in which the lovers, fonder of each other than
ever, carried out a passo a due ending with a brilliant
Coda. The 'Scene* was well received, and I shall say
nothing of the glances cast at me by the lady of my
thoughts. The Princess Elisa, after paying me the
greatest compliments, very graciously remarked: 'You
nave accomplished the impossible with two strings, would
one string suffice for your talents?' I promised to make
the attempt. The idea appealed to my imagination, and
in the course of a few weeks I composed a sonata for
the G string which I gave the name of 'Napoleone', and
which I played on August 26 before a splendid and
numerous gathering of the Court. The success I scored
ekceeded my expectations, and from that day dated my
preference for the G string." In Florence, whither
Paganini followed the Princess. Elisa when she became
Grand-Duchess of Tuscany in 1809, he "became the ob-
ject of fanatical admiration", and in 1810 he played for
the Court, for the first time, those Variations on the
G string which have a range of three ocatves, secured
by means of harmonics. This novelty was prodigiously
successful when he introduced it at a concert in Parma
in 1811.

10
 :

THE PAGANINI LEGENDS

From 1808 to 1813, Paganini flitted hither and thither

in Italy, playing here, there and everywhere, in Lom-
bardy and in the Romagna, in Cesena, Rimini, Ravenna,
Forli, Inola, Faenza, etc. It was an age lacking in
communicational facilities there was' neither telegraph
;

nor telephone rumor rather than newspapers supplied

;

the world with its fact and fiction; and transportation

had not as yet added the railroad to its resources. The
difficulties of keeping track of Paganini during this
period of his life has even led certain old biographers
to declare that the years from 1808 to 1813 represent
another mysterious break in his existence. It is where
fact is hard to establish that imagination may run riot
most extravagantly. In this period are placed most of
the sinister rumors, the satanic legends which Paganini
himself, while he denied them, did not disdain to use
to advertise his art. In Heinrich Heine's "Florentine
Nights" we find some delightful echoes of these fanciful
imaginings Lyser, the deaf painter, who has drawn
:

the "fabled features which appear to belong to the

sulphurous realm of shadows" is speaking to the poet
"Yes, my friend, what the whole world declares, that
he sold himself to the devil, body and soul, in order to
become the best of violinists to fiddle together millions,
and, first of all, to escape from the galley where he
had already languished many years, is true. For, look
you, my friend, when he was conductor in Lucca, he
fell in love with some princess of the theater, became
jealous, . .stabbed his faithless love to death in good
.

Italian style, was sent to the galleys in Genoa and . . .

finally sold himself to the devil in order to get away,

to become the greatest of violinists and be able to
extort a levy of two thaler s from each one of us here
this evening." Or again, in connection with his im-
presario, George Harry "...
a sanguinary contract
:

binds him to this servant, who is in reality none other

than Satan. the devil has merely borrowed Mr.
. . .

George Harry's form, and the poor fellow's wretched

soul in the meantime has been locked up with some
other trash in a chest in Hanover, until the devil give
it back its fleshly envelope." Paganini categorically
11
denied the apocryphal tales of an eight years' captivity
as a galley-slave, the love-romance terminating in an
assassination, and other stories in a letter published in
the Paris "Revue Musical" in the year 1831, and implies
that some of the adventures ascribed to him happened
to the Polish violinist Durand or Duranowski, a rest-
less and revolutionary spirit, said to have been affiliated
with the Italian Carbonari and other incendiary organi-
zations of the time. That he was not blind to the ad-
vertising value of these fables, however, is proved by
another incident, told by Regli : "One day Paganini
sat at dinner at Trieste, together with a numerous com-
pany. Before the conclusion of the meal he suddenly
leaped up and cried out despairingly 'Save me, gentle-
:

men, save me from the spectre which continually pur-

sues me! Do you not see it, threatening me with the
same blood-dripping dagger with which I slew him ! . . .

She loved me . . and she was innocent

. ! . . Ah,
.

two years of imprisonment will not atone: my blood

must be poured out to the last drop I' With these words
he seized the knife lying before him. As may be easily
imagined we hastened to grasp his arm. Terror and
consternation were visible in the faces of the assembly;
but they were soon reassured when the preiended
Othello once more took his seat, and devoted himself
to the gastronomic pleasures, showing that his inten-
tion merely had been to make those who spread such
fictions about him ridiculous. The fact remains, how-
ever, that the theater (in which Paganini played in
Trieste) the following day, was not large enough to
contain the audience which gathered, and more than
a thousand persons had to be turned away and com-
forted with the possibility of hearing him at his next
concert." The demoniac reputation popularly ascribed
to him did not leave him on his triumphal concert
tours of Europe. In Vienna, where he played the Rode
Concerto, "the burning southern ardor of the Italian
singed the old-fashioned web of Rode's passage-work
with the flames of the nether world, with the passion
of Corsican vendettas and of Sicilian siroccos." In
Leipsic, a critic thought it necessary to prove that in
reality there was nothing diabolic in Paganini's playing,
but that on the contrary it was extremely human. His
12
playing in Carlsbad is supposed to have enraptured the
young Chopin, and the dangerous music of his art to
have had its share in evoking in the Polish master's
soul the romantic, vampire-world of his plaintive music;
while in Prague it was whispered that he was the Golem,
the Wandering Jew. In Paris, where Paganini visited
the house of the cabbalistic magician Cagliostro, he was
said to have participated in demoniac incantations and
black rites to raise the reputed treasures of the Count
of Saint-German, golden bars, statues and shrines, chests
of ducats, gems, bronze, etc., including the rich jewels
of the pagan temples which the Emperor Julian the
Apostate had concealed from the Christian bishops. . . .

And yet, in reality Paganini had been made a knight

of the Golden Spur by the Holy Father, and it had
been said of him that "Niccolo Paganini plays Gothic
minsters on his violin, his thrills are clouds of in-
cense ..." The violinist's apparently supernatural
gifts, his cadaverous, spectral appearance —
especially
after a lesion of the jaw, due to an unsuccessful opera-
tion, made necessary for him to have his teeth ex-
it
—
tracted his long bony fingers, his whole weird and
repulsive personality, all played their part in creating
the Paganini legends, which a less credulous day dis-
misses with the amused tolerance their piquancy and
color provoke. His life was a dissolute one, yet the
great violinist was not irreligious if he failed in con-
;

duct he did not in belief, and the Church which examines

the. hearts as well as the deeds of its followers, has
freed his memory from all suspicion of diabolic affini-
ties.

PAGANINI'S TRIUMPHS IN ITALY

Until theyear 1828, when he undertook his first

European Paganini triumphed over all rivals in
tour,
his native land.Leaving the service of the Princess
Elisa in 1813 —
he had refused to doff the gold-em-
broidered coat of a captain of gendarmerie, an honor
she had bestowed on him, in order to play for her in
—
evening dress he wrote his famous '*Le Streghe" (The
Witches' Dance) and promenaded it throughout Italy,
often playing' it on a single string, after having cut the

13
 —

three others with a pair of scissors in view of the

audience. In Bologna, (1814) he improvised in his con-
certs, with Rossini at the piano in Rome the Papal
;

Vicar (afterward His Holiness Pope Leon XII), granted

him a special dispensation to give concerts during the
Fridays of the Carnaval season, a very special privi-
lege. In the same year he played in Milan (with his
pupil Catarina Carcagno) in 1815 concertized in the
;

Romagna; and in 1816 triumphed in a competitive con-

cert over the French violinist Lafont. Lafont was
declared his equal in cantabile playing, but Paganini
was immeasurably his antagonist's superior in spirit and
technical perfection. In Venice he met Spohr, who
after paying tribute to his merits declares "... what
interests the general public, however, lowers him to the
rank of a charlatan, and does not make up for his
defects a strong tone, large bowing and a song phras-
;

ing which is wanting in good taste." In Milan, Genoa,

Placentia, Turin, Florence and Verona, Paganini
startled and delighted his hearers, and in the last-
mentioned city (1817), won a victory over the Polish
violinist, Lipinski, as he had done in the case of Lafont.
He continued his triumphal career within the limits of
his native land until 1828, maturing his vast technical
resources, and generally acclaimed as the first of Italian
violinists.

THE CONQUEST OF EUROPE

The "Magician of the South" achieved an unparalleled

triumph at his opening concert in Vienna, where he
was acclaimed "King of the Violin". Five feet five
inches in height, his face long and pale, with strongly
marked features, a great nose, eagle eye, long, curly
black hair, he was unnaturally thin, and "two furrows,
which might be said to have been graven by his ex-
ploits— for they resembled the F-holes of a violin
were sunken in his cheeks." His playing provoked an
enthusiasm beyond measure, and his second concert
was attended by all the members of the Imperial family
present in the capital. Succeeding concerts only con-
firmed the impression already made. Everything in
Vienna was & la Paganini; the dishes on the restaurant
14
bills of the ribbons and scarves worn by the
fare;
women ;
cigars and snuff boxes
pipes, ; even billiards
were played a la Paganini. The Emperor of Austria
gave him the great gold medal of St. Salvator, and the
title of Court Virtuoso. A much-needed rest cure at
the Carlsbad baths was followed by a visit to Prague,
whence Paganini returned "loaded with laurels and
florins". Then came concerts in Dresden, Leipsic,
Hamburg, Berlin, where, according to critics he "realized
the impossible" and in Warsaw and Frankfurt-on-the-
;

Oder, where Chopin took part in his concert; but his

precarious health, undermined by his toil and excesses,
forbade a proposed journey to Russia. He returned
to Berlin "from Warsaw, whither he had been sum-
moned", as he wrote a friend, "for the coronation of
the Tzar Nicholas as King of Poland", and after play-
ing in a number of German cities, including Munich
and Stuttgart, the illness of his son Achillino, who ac-
companied him everywhere, having deferred his visit
to Paris) finally appeared before a Parisian audience
on March 9, 1831. There was the usual chorus of
praise, the usual chorus of attacks, but Paganini left
Paris after a series of performances in April, having
scored an artistic and a financial success. England
came next: there the press was not disposed to favor
Paganini and freely discussed his "insolence", his greed
and the fact that though his English concerts (he also
played in Dublin and in other Irish cities) brought him
the sum of £20,000, he had not once played for charity.
The accusation of "insolence" was due to the fact that
when King George IV, in the cheap, and niggardly
manner so in keeping with his character as Thackerey
has described it, offered Paganini half the honorarium
— —
the artist had demanded £100 for an appearance at
Court, the Italian replied: "Your Majesty can hear me
for considerable less money if you care to attend one
of my concerts at the theater !" The winters of 1833-4
(in 1832 Paganini returned to Italy and bought a Villa
near Parma) Paganini spent in Paris, making another
London concert trip between, and in 1834, when at the
zenith of his fame, Berlioz wrote for him the famous
"Harold en Italie" symphany. In 1835, he played for
the ex-empress Marie-Louise in Parma (she made him

15
a chevalier of Saint-George in 1836),and received a ring
adorned with diamonds, and in Genoa, at a solemn
banquet given himby his fervent admirer, the Marquis
di Negro, in his villa known as "The Terrestrial Para-
dise", near Geona, Paganini's bust in marble was
solemnly dedicated with poems and eulogies inspired
by his European triumphs. Yet his star was on the
decline: his health was failing. In 1838 he experienced
large financial losses owing to the failure of the Paris
"Casino Paganini", a gaming house which was refused
a license by the French government, and this aggravat-
ing his constitutional disorder, laryngeal phthisis, he
died after much suffering in Nice, where he had taken
refuge, on May 17, 1840. To Antonia Bianchi, the
— —
mother of his son Achillino his sole heir and to his
sisters, he left legacies, his son coming into an estate of
some £80,000. As on earth he had never been able to
rest long in one place, so after death his corpse was a
wanderer. The Bishop of Nice, since he had died with-
out absolution, could not permit Paganini's burial in
consecrated ground. Pending the reply to the appeal
his legal executors had made to the Cardinal-Archbishop
of Genoa, that he might be buried with the blessing oi
the Church in his native city, the body was temporarily
deposited in the hospital of Villafranche ; and later
provisionally buried outside its cemetery. According
to another (and probably apocryphal) account, it was
for a time buried on the little island of Saint-Ferreol,
whence six years later it was transported to Italy. An
excavation in the middle of this islet is still known as
"Paganini's Hole". More exact, probably, is the state-
ment that his body was removed from Villafranche
in 1843 to be taken to the Villa Polevra, a property
belonging to the Paganini family, near Genoa, where
the Holy Father had authorized a provisional inhuma-
tion. The body was exhumed in 1853, to be once more
laid to rest in the Villa Gaiona in Parma, in accordance
with the rites of the Church. In 1876 the remains were
once more exhumed, to be reburied in the cemetery of
Parma. Yet even then Paganini was not to rest in
peace. In 1893, his coffin was once more opened, in
the presence of his son and the Hungarian violinist
Ondricek; and in 1896, another exhumation was made
16
necessary owing to the creation of a new cemetery in
Parma. It is to be hoped that this may be the last,
and that his mortal clay has now been left to repose
in peace.

PAGANINI, THE MAN AND THE VIRTUOSO

Paganini lived in a time whose moral level falls con-

siderably below that of our own. It was the age of the
French Revolution and Empire, when the pleasure-loving
traditions of corrupt eighteenth-century aristocracy and
princely social circles still set an example followed by
all who were able to do so. The pursuit of facile
beauty, the excitement of the gaming table, the indul-
gence of each and every material enjoyment were the
order of the day. Paganini grew up amid the license of
a great seaport town, his youthful trend to dissipation
was not corrected by maturer years, and undoubtedly
shortened his life. His savage and morose appearance
is said to have been belied by a gay, witty and happy
disposition, so far as his intimates were concerned. In
spite of his constant ill health, his outlook on life was
cheerful he had a capacity for generous impulse, and
:

his avarice would appear to have been exaggerated. It

was rather, after he had commenced to garner the
golden shower which rewarded his public appearances,
a consistent economy which strove to preserve for the
son whom he adored, the fortune within his grasp, the
more so that he had carelessly flung away all he made
in earlier years. His love for his son Achillino (who
was fourteen when his father died) is, perhaps, the
finest and noblest trait of his character. He
carried the
boy about with him everywhere, played with him in all
his leisure moments, and never spoke a harsh or un-
kind word to him. For all that Paganini asked exces-
sive prices for admission to his concerts, it should be
remembered that at a time when the upper social circles
in every land were under the impression that the artist
existed only for their amusement and entertainment,
this only amounted to a defence of his own dignity and
that of his art. When it came to distributing free
tickets to students and poor music-lovers, he was in-
variably generous.

17
 As a violinist Paganini was the inaugurates of an
epoch. He was impenetrated by music. When only
five the bell -chimes of the churches were his greatest
joy; "he could not hear the organ in church without
being moved to tears." And what he felt himself he
was able to make others feel, for in their turn his audi-
ences wept when he played his cantabile passages. It is
evident that Paganini when playing totally forgot the
violin as a tone-producing instrument, a sign of his
intellectual superiority. Guhr says that the playing of
Baillot, Lafont, Beriot, Boucher and others did not
much differ, while with Paganini "all is new, unheard-of
... he opens up the imagination,
limitless vistas to
and gives the violin the divinest breath of the human
voice, profoundly stirring the most intimate emotions
of the soul." This author, after careful observation,
when Paganini had refused to disclose to him his
"secrets", decided that his mastery was due to: the
manner in which he timed the instrument the peculiar
;

bowing he employed the mingling and uniting of

;

sounds produced by the bow in conjunction with the

left hand pizzicato; the use of simple ami double har-
monics; his playing on the G string; and his incredible
tours de force* ("stunts"). He also used weak strings,
lending themselves better to the playing of the har-
monics; and among a variety of different strokes of the
bow, he had a remarkable sautille bowing and a stac-
cato, in which he flung the bow on the strings, "playing
successions of scales with incredible rapidity." These,
with a bridge less convex than that used by other
violinists, especially at the E string (allowing him to
touch three strings at a time in the upper positions) ;

were all advantages carefully cultivated by Paganini.

—
He played harmonics chromatic scales, up and down,
simple and double trills, sequences of double-stops in
—
harmonics with the greatest ease, though, contradict-
ing the popular fallacy, Paganini's hand was not an
unusually large one. Exercise, however, had given him
a prodigious stretch, and, placing the thumb of his left
hand on the middle of the neck of the violin, he could,
thanks to the reach of his fingers, play at will in the
first second and third position without moving it. A
violinistic comet, the superlative of violin virtuosity,

18
19
the most original of solo players, he "occupies an
isolated position in the chain of musical-historical
development." His stupendous technique, power and
perfection of tone, passion and energy of style, which
held his audiences spell-bound, have made his name a
musical household word. Yet he founded no school,
in spite of an individual power far transcending mere
virtuosity. His influence on the violin playing of his
time was most noticeable in France, "his own home-
land being content with the fame of having produced
him, and of possessing a pupil of his in the person of
another child of Genoa (Sivori)."

PAGANINr/s COMPOSITIONS

According to a list published some ten years after

Paganini's death, he wrote some fifty compositions. He
himself acknowledged as authentic only the "24 Caprices"
for solo violin; the 12 "Suonate per Violino e Chitarra",
Op. 2 and 3; and the 6 "Quartetti per Violino, Contralto,
Chitarra e Violoncello", Op. 4 and 5. The "Caprices",
which Liszt and Schumann have in part transcribed for
the piano, show how well he understood the art of
exploiting what his predecessors had left him. In
more than one respect Locatelli was his model, and
that composer's long-forgotten pieces were given new
life by Paganini. The first of the "Caprices" is un-
doubtedly modelled on Locatelli's Arpeggio-Study in his
"L'arte del violino'\ Naturally, Paganini reclothed
the suggestions afforded by Locatelli in a brilliant
modern dress, and transformed them with a genial in-
ventive spirit. The various studies bristle with technical
difficulties: modulations, staccatos, double-stops, octaves
— everything in fact, save harmonics. As Witting re-
marks "It is strange to note that the characteristic
:

effect which was Paganini's greatest success, the har-

monics, do not appear in his "Caprices". These still
hold their own in the virtuoso study literature of the
violin.
Of the eight concertos which Paganini wrote — it was
his custom, in his concert numbers, to write only the
orchestra parts, keeping the solo part in his own head,
though there were always listeners who put them down,
20
 —
for better or worse, as the case might be only two
remain: the Concerto in E flat (D) Op. 6, and in B
minor, Op. 7. The Adagio of the Concerto Op. 6 is a
dialogue between the fourth string and the three others,
and the Rondo contains some original combinations in
tenths. The Second Concerto is a work rich in effects
and grandiose in style, and contains the famous bell
movement, the "Campanella", which Liszt has tran-
scribed. Nor are Paganini's variations and other con-
cert pieces less interesting from a technical standpoint.
His variations on "Di tanti palpiti" ("Tancredi"), written
in B flat minor, have a solo violin part which calls for
various changes of tuning; it presents the theme simply
and develops it with every mechanical means of effect.
In the "Non piu mesta" ("Cenerentola"), the violin is
tuned as in the preceding composition, but plays in D,
as in the case of the First Concerto. The second varia-
tion recalls effects already employed An other of the
composer's works ; and the third is written almost en-
tirely in octaves; the fourth is an echo variation, the
echo effects being in double harmonics. This variation
is followed by a Finale in thirds and octaves, very
brilliant but extremely difficult to play. The popular
twenty "Carnaval of Venice" variations, Op. 10, on the
air of "Oh, mamma !" are not always in good musical
taste while of those on the air "Barucaba" each offers a
;

special study for a different species of bowing, and are

for the most part written in different keys. There are
in addition variations on the "Praj'er" from Rossini's
"Moise," "God Save the King", on Mozart's "La ci darem
la mano" ("Don Juan"), the famous "Moto Perpetuo",
"Le Streglie", ("Witches' Dance"), and others. Of
the sonatas some bear titles, such as "Varsovie",
"Marie-Louise", "L'Orage", "Primavera", "Grande
Sonate sentimentale", and others do not. Violin tech-
nique has progressed to such a degree since Paganini's
time, that most of the remarkable mechanism which as-
tonished the audiences of his day has become the com-
mon property of the contemporary concert violinist.
Then, too, with the improvement of musical good taste,
we are obliged to discount much in his compositions
which is of a purely virtuoso character, and has no real
musical value. At the same time, what he has written
21
 :

proves that aside from being a genial artist he was a

composer whose —
style if not superior to that of his
Italian contemporaries — was at any rate not inferior
to it, especially where orchestration is concerned.
When Heine heard Paganini play in Hamburg, "the
master violinist," so the poet-critic declares, "... with
every stroke of his bow, called up visible figures and
situations before my eyes, recounted to me in his sound-
ing picture-writing all sorts of vivid stories, conjured
up for me a sort of species of colorful shadow-play,
in which he himself, with his violin playing, always
acted as the leading character." As he plays, Heine
sees the legendary story of Paganini's life unrolled
before him in a sequence of glowing tableaux of love,
assassination, and the pact with Satan in prison; sees
the demoniac violinist calling up monsters out of the
ocean with his music, and, finally an apotheosis, a kind
of vision of Paganini transfigured, whose imaginative
beauty deserves citation, and allows us to take leave of
the artist in the proper mood
"In the midst of space floated a radiant globe, and
on it, gigantic and proudly upraised, stood a man play-
ing the violin. Was this orb the sun? I do not know.
But I recognized Paganini in the lineaments of the
man; yet idealized in beauty, divinely clarified, concila-
tion in his smile. His body bloomed in all the strength
of manhood, a garment of clear blue confined his en-
nobled limbs, his black hair flowed upon his shoulders
in shining curls; and as he stood there, firm and stead-
fast, like some exalted divinity and played his violin,
it seemed as though all creation obeyed his tones. He
was the man-planet around whom moved the universe,
with due solemnity and sounding forth the rhythms of
bliss. Those great lights, floating about him in so calm
a radiance, were they the 'stars of heaven, and those
echoing harmonies born of their movement, was this
the music of the spheres of which poets and prophets
have told so many enchanting tales? At times, when
I strained my eyes far out into the twilight distance, I
seemed to behold nothing but white, flowing garments,
in which giant pilgrims were wandering about in dis-
guise, with white staves in their hands, and, strange to
say, the golden knobs which tipped them were the same

22
great lights which I had thought were stars. The pil-
grims progressed around the great- fiddler in a wide
circle, and the tones of his violin caused the golden
knobs of their staves to gleam with ever increasing
radiance, and the chorales which rose from their lips,
and which I had thought were the music of the spheres,
were really no more than the dying echo of the tones of
his violin. A sacred and nameless fervor dwelt in those
tones, which at times trembled forth, hardly audible,
like a mysterious whisper upon the waters and then
welled up again, gruesomely sweet, like the sound of
hunting horns in the- moonlight, and finally rushed along
in unchecked jubilation, as though a thousand bards
were sweeping their harp-strings and raising their voices
in a chant of triumph. They were sounds which the ear
never hears, but only the heart may dream, when it
rests at night against the heart of the beloved. Perhaps,
too, the heart understands them in bright daylight, when
it steeps itself with an outcry of joy in the lines of
beauty and the ovals of a Grecian work of art "
. . .

SOURCES
G. Conestabile, "Vita di piccolo Paganini"; J.-G. Prod'-
homme, "Paganini"; Josef von Wasiliewski, "Die Violine und
ihre Master"; S. S. Stratton, "Niccolo Paganini, His life
and Works"; K. F. Guhr, "Uber Papaninis Kunst die Violine
zu spielen"; Fetis, "Notice Biographique sur Paganini"; O.
G. Sonneck, "Heinrich Heine's Musical Feuilletons" ("Musi-
cal Quarterly", Jan. 1922; Trans, w. connecting text by
Frederick H. Martens).

23
 —

GLOSSARY
Cagliostro — Allesandro, Count Cagliostro (Giuseppe
Balsamo) an Italian alchemist and imposter (1743-
1795) who visited London and Paris in 1771, selling
love-philtres, elixirs of youth, alchemistic powders,
etc. He was tried and condemned as a heretic in
Rome (1789) but his death sentence was commuted
to perpetual imprisonment.

Carmagnole —
A wild and savage Revolutionary air, of
Piedmontese origin, composed in 1792, and danced
and sung by the French Jacobins. It was a favorite
march in the Revolutionary armies, but Napoleon
forbade it when he became First Consul.
Count of Saint-Germain —A famous adventurer (c.
1710 - c. 1780), known as "The Wonderman", a
follower of the secret sciences, a capable violinist,
who claimed to have the secret of prolonging life
he claimed he had lived some 2,000 years and of —
turning base metals into gold. A
reputed mystic
and freemason, he was influential at several Euro-
pean courts.
Julian the Apostate —A Roman emperor (331-363)
who cast off the Christian faith in which he was
born to avow paganism. He endeavored to discredit
Christianity throughout the empire and reintroduce
the worship of the gods of Greece and Rome.
Lipinski —
Karl Joseph (1790-1861) celebrated violinist,
noted for the breadth of his playing. An opera,
many pieces and the well-known "Military Con-
certo" for violin are among his works.

Lafont— Charles Philippe (1781-1839), pupil of Kreut-

zer,succeeded Rode as chamber-virtuoso in Petro-
grad lived in Paris from 1815 on as Court Violin-
;

ist.

24
Locatelli— Pietro Locatelli (1693-1746) was famous for
his double-stopping and the effects he produced by
changing the tuning of His numerous
his violin.
works contain the innovations by which Paganini
profited.
Order of The Golden Spur—The Papal Order of the
Golden Spur was founded by His Holiness Pope
Paul IV, as a military body, in 1559, though tradit-
ion assigns its foundation to Constantine the Great
and Pope Sylvester. It was reorganized as an
Order of Merit by Pope Gregory XVI in 1841.
Gluck and Mozart are among the famous musicians
who were knights of this Order. In 1905 the Order
was divided into thee classes and a separate Order,
that of the ''Golden Spur" or "Golden Legion"
(Militia Aurata) established in one class, with a.
membership limited to a hundred knights.
—
Sirocco The simoon, or wind for the great Sahara
desert, is known as the sirocco when it reaches the
northern shore of the Mediterranean.
SrvoRi— Ernesto Camillo (1815-1894). This pupil of
Paganini's was a remarkable interpreter of his
teacher's works. He made concert tours in the
United States, Central and South America in 1846-
8, and wrote many compositions for his instrument,
which are now forgotten.

For current musical terms the student is referred to

Tom Wotton's "Dictionary of Foreign Musical
S.
Terms and Orchestral Instruments."

25
 LIST OF PAGANINFS WORKS.

Opus 1. 24 Caprices for Violin.

" 2. Sonata for Violin and Guitar.
"- 3. Sonata for Violin and Guitar.
" 4-5. Three Quartets for Violin, Viola, Cello and
Guitar.
" 6. Concerto in.Eb major.
" 7. Concerto in B minor. La Campanella with
Rondo: A la Clochette.
" 8. Le Streghe. Variation on theme by S. Mayr.
" Variation on God Save the King.
9.
" II Carnevale di Venezia. 20 Variations.
1Q.
" 11. Allegro Moto perpetuo.
" 12. Variation on Non piu mesta.
" 13. Variation on Di tanti palpiti.
Variazioni di bravura on airs from Mose,
Sixty Studies in 60 progressive Variations on the air
Barucaba.

Air with Variations Violin and Piano.

Three Airs varies.
Andante innocentamente
Andante e Allegro vivo
Art de jouer du violin
Bataille. Theme at Variations Violin and Piano
Bravour Variations
Campanella Rondo
Canto Spinato " " "
Capriccio
Charme de Padua
Concert Etude for Cymbalon.
Derniere pensee for Piano
Divertissement sur des airs favoris varies for Piano.
Six Divertissements for Violin and Piano.
Duetto pour violin.

26
Effusion musicale Divertissement. Rondo de la Danse
:

des Sorcieres. Violin and Piano.

Introduzione e Variazioni sul tema Nel cor piu non mi
:

sento, seguite da un Duetto.

For Violin solo.
Merveille de Paganini. Duo for 2 Violins.
Oeuvre posthume. Sonata for Violin and Piano.
Preludi for 2 Violins and Bass.
Six short Sonatas for Violin and Piano.
Sonata a Violino principale e Violino e Violoncello.

27
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