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Niccolò Paganini
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Niccolò Paganini (October 27, 1782 – May 27, 1840) was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His caprice in A minor, Op. 1 No. 24 is among his best known compositions, and serves as inspiration for other prominent artists from Johannes Brahms to Sergei Rachmaninoff.
olò Paganini was born in Genoa, Italy, the third of the six children of Antonio and Teresa (neé Bocciardo) Paganini.
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Niccolò Paganini (October 27, 1782 – May 27, 1840) was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His caprice in A minor, Op. 1 No. 24 is among his best known compositions, and serves as inspiration for other prominent artists from Johannes Brahms to Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Biography
Childhood and early career
Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa, Italy, the third of the six children of Antonio and Teresa (neé Bocciardo) Paganini. Paganini's father was an unsuccessful trader, but he managed to supplement his income through playing music on the mandolin. At the age of five, Paganini started learning the mandolin from his father, and moved to the violin by the age of seven. His musical talents were quickly recognized, earning him numerous scholarships for violin lessons.
The young Paganini studied under various local violinists, including Giovanni Servetto and Giacomo Costa, but his progress quickly outpaced their abilities. Paganini and his father then traveled to Parma to seek further guidance from Alessandro Rolla. But upon listening to Paganini's playing, Rolla immediately referred him to his own teacher, Ferdinando Paër and, later, Paër's own teacher Gasparo Ghiretti. Though Paganini did not stay long with Paër or Ghiretti, the two had considerable influence on his composition style.
By age 18, Paganini was appointed first violin of the Republic of Lucca, but a substantial portion of his income came from freelancing. His fame as a violinist was only matched by his reputation as a gambler and womanizer. In 1805, Lucca was annexed by Napoleonic France, and the region was ceded to Napoleon's sister, Elisa Baciocchi. Paganini became a violinist for the Baciocchi court, while giving private lessons for her husband, Félix. In 1807, Baciocchi became the Grand Duchess of Tuscany and her court was transferred to Florence. Paganini was part of the entourage, but, towards the end of 1809, he left Baciocchi to resume his freelance career.
Travelling virtuoso
For the next few years, Paganini returned to touring in the areas surrounding Parma and Genoa. Though he was very popular with the local audience, he was still not very well known in Europe. His first break came from an 1813 concert which took place at La Scala in Milan. The concert was a great success, and as a result Paganini began to attract the attention of other prominent, albeit more conservative, musicians across Europe. His early encounters with Charles Philippe Lafont and Ludwig Spohr speculated intense rivalry, though all were successful enough later in their career, they only criticized each other's playing style with patronism.
Paganini's fame spread with successful concerts held in cities outside of Italy, in Vienna (1828), London, and Paris (both in 1831). His technical ability, and his willingness to display them, gained much acclaim from critics across Europe. In addition to his own compositions, theme and variations being the most popular, Paganini also performed modified versions of works (primarily concertos) written by his early contemporaries, such as Rodolphe Kreutzer and Giovanni Battista Viotti.
Paganini's signature violin, Il Cannone fabricated in 1742 by Giuseppe Antonio Guarnieri del Gesù, was his favourite. He named it "The Cannon" because of the powerful and explosive resonance he was able to produce from it. Its strings are nearly on the same plane, as opposed to most violins, the strings of which are distinctly arched to prevent accidentally bowing extra strings. The stringing of Il Cannone may have allowed Paganini to play on three or even four strings at once. Il Cannone is now in the hands of the City of Genoa, where it is exhibited in the town hall. It is taken out and played by its curator once monthly, and periodically loaned out to virtuosi of today.
In Paris in 1833, he commissioned a viola concerto from Hector Berlioz, who produced Harold in Italy for him, but Paganini never played it.
Death
His health deteriorated due to mercury poisoning by the mercury compound used at that time to treat syphilis. The disease caused him to lose the ability to play violin, and he retired in ca.1834. He died of throat cancer in Nice.
Paganini refused the last rites, believing he had longer to live. He died later that night before the priest could be resummoned. The Archbishop of Nice issued an edict refusing his body Christian burial. When Paganini's son arrived in Genoa with his father's body, they were denied entrance to the city, and the corpse languished for months before it was finally buried. While waiting for the court's decision, the embalmed body was on display to the public. Eventually, they placed the body under glass to assuage the problem of decay. According to Paganini's son, an entrepreneur offered 30,000 francs for the right to exhibit Paganini's body. The body was not laid in hallowed ground until 1845, and it was disinterred more than once after that.
He left behind a series of sonatas, caprices, six violin concerti, string quartets, and numerous guitar pieces.
The orchestral parts of Paganini's works are polite, unadventurous in scoring, and supportive. Critics of Paganini find his concerti long-winded and formulaic: one fast rondo finale could often be switched for another. During his public career, the violin parts of the concertos were kept secret. Paganini would rehearse his orchestra without ever playing the full violin solos. At his death, only two had been published. Paganini's heirs have cannily released his concertos one at a time, each given their second debut, over many years, at well-spaced intervals. There are now six published Paganini violin concerti (although the last two are missing their orchestral parts). His more intimate compositions for guitar and string instruments, particularly the violin, have yet to become part of the standard repertoire.
Paganini developed the genre of concert variations for solo violin, characteristically taking a simple, apparently naïve theme, and alternating lyrical variations with a ruminative, improvisatory character that depended for effect on the warmth of his phrasing, with bravura extravagances that left his audiences gasping.
Paganini and the progression of violin technique
The Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis once referred to Paganini as a phenomenon rather than a development. Though some of the violinistic techniques frequently employed by Paganini were already present, most accomplished violinists of the time focused on intonation and bowing techniques, the so-called right-hand techniques for string players.
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) was considered a pioneer in transforming the violin from an ensemble instrument to a solo instrument. In the mean time, the polyphonic capability of the violin was firmly established through the Sonatas and Partitas BWV 1001-1006 of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Other notable violinists included Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) and Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770), who, in their compositions, reflected the increasing technical and musical demands on the violinist. Although the role of the violin in music had been drastically changed through this period, progress on violin technique was steady but slow up to this point. Any study of techniques requiring agility of the fingers and the bow was still considered unorthodox and discouraged by the established community of violinists.
The first exhaustive exploration of violin technique was found in the 24 caprices of Pietro Locatelli (1693-1746) which at the time of writing, proved to be too difficult to play, although they are now quite playable. Rudimentary usage of harmonics and left hand pizzicato could be found in the works of Auguste Durand, who allegedly developed the techniques. While it was questionable whether Paganini pioneered many of these violinistic effects that defined his music, it was certain that his mastery of these techniques was instrumental in popularizing their use in regular compositions.
Another aspect of Paganini's violin techniques concerned his flexibility. He had exceptionally long fingers and was capable of playing three octaves across four strings in a hand span, a feat that is still considered impossible by today's standards. His seemingly unnatural ability might have been a result of Marfan syndrome or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
Influence on music and composition
The writing of violin music was also dramatically changed through Paganini. Even in his youth, he was able to imitate other sounds such as horns, flutes, and birds with his violin. Though highly colorful and technically imaginative, Paganini's composition was not considered truly polyphonic. Eugène Ysaÿe criticized Paganini's accompaniment for lacking in any character of polyphonism. Nevertheless, he expanded the timbre of the instrument to levels previously unknown.
Paganini was also the inspiration of many prominent composers. Both "La Campanella" and the A minor caprice (Nr. 24) have been an object of interest for a number of composers. Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Boris Blacher, Andrew Lloyd Webber, George Rochberg and Witold Lutoslawski, among others, wrote well-known variations on its theme.
In performance Paganini enjoyed playing tricks, like tuning one of his strings a semitone high (scordatura), or playing the majority of a piece on one string after breaking the other three. He astounded audiences with techniques that included harmonics, double stops, pizzicato with the left as well as the right hand, and near-impossible fingerings and bowings.
Legacy
A minor planet 2859 Paganini discovered in 1978 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh is named after him.
Listing of compositions
- 24 caprices, for solo violin, Op.1
- No. 1 in E major (The Arpeggio)
- No. 2 in B minor
- No. 3 in E minor (La Campanella)
- No. 4 in C minor
- No. 5 in A minor
- No. 6 in G minor (The Trill)
- No. 7 in A minor
- No. 8 in E-flat major
- No. 9 in E major (The Hunt)
- No. 10 in G minor
- No. 11 in C major
- No. 12 in A-flat major
- No. 13 in B-flat major (Devil's Laughter)
- No. 14 in E-flat major
- No. 15 in E minor
- No. 16 in G minor
- No. 17 in E-flat major
- No. 18 in C major
- No. 19 in E-flat major
- No. 20 in D major
- No. 21 in A major
- No. 22 in F major
- No. 23 in E-flat major
- No. 24 in A minor (Tema con variazioni)
- 6 sonatas, for violin and guitar, Ops. 2 and 3
- Op. 2, No. 1 in A major
- Op. 2, No. 2 in C major
- Op. 2, No. 3 in D minor
- Op. 2, No. 4 in A major
- Op. 2, No. 5 in D major
- Op. 2, No. 6 in A minor
- Op. 3, No. 1 in A major
- Op. 3, No. 2 in G major
- Op. 3, No. 3 in D major
- Op. 3, No. 4 in A minor
- Op. 3, No. 5 in A major
- Op. 3, No. 6 in E minor
- 15 Quartets for Violin, Guitar, Viola and Cello, Op. 4
- No. 1 in A minor
- No. 2 in C major
- No. 3 in A major
- No. 4 in D major
- No. 5 in C major
- No. 6 in D major
- No. 7 in E major
- No. 8 in A major
- No. 9 in D major
- No. 10 in A major
- No. 11 in B major
- No. 12 in A minor
- No. 13 in F minor
- No. 14 in A major
- No. 15 in A minor
- Concerto for violin No. 1, in D major, Op. 6 (1817)
- Concerto for violin No. 2, in B minor, Op. 7 (1826) (La Campanella, 'The little bell')
- Concerto for violin No. 3, in E major (1830)
- Concerto for violin No. 4, in D minor (1830)
- Concerto for violin No. 5, in A minor (1830)
- Concerto for violin No. 6, in E minor (1815?) — last movement completed by unknown authorship.
- Le Streghe (The Witches Dance), Op. 8
- Carnevale di Venezia, Op. 10
- Moto Perpetuo in C major, Op. 11
- Non più Mesta, Op.12
- I Palpiti, Op.13
- 60 Variations on Barucaba for violin and guitar, Op. 14 (1835)
- Cantabile in D major, Op. 17
- Cantabile & Valse (waltz), Op. 19 (c. 1824)
- 18 Centone di Sonate, for violin and guitar
- Arranged works
- Introduction, theme and variations from Paisiello's 'La bella molinara' (Nel cor più non mi sento) in G major
- Introduction and variations on a theme from Rossini's 'Cenerentola' (Non più mesta)
- Introduction and variations on a theme from Rossini's 'Moses' (Dal tuo stellato soglio)
- Introduction and variations on a theme from Rossini's 'Tancredi' (Di tanti palpiti)
- Maestoso sonata sentimentale (Variations on the Austrian National Anthem)
- Variations on God Save the King, Op. 9
- Duetto amoroso, Op. 63 (c. 1807)
- Miscellaneous works
- 43 Ghiribizzi per Chitarra (for guitar)
- Perpetuela (Sonata Movimento Perpetuo)
- La Primavera
- Sonata con variazioni (Sonata Militaire)
- Napoleon Sonata
- Romanze in A minor
- Tarantella in A minor
- Grand sonata for violin and guitar, in A major
- Sonata for Viola in C minor
- Sonata in C for solo violin
Works inspired by Paganini
The Caprice No. 24 in A minor, Op.1 (Tema con variazioni) has been the basis of works by many other composers. For a separate list of these, see Caprice No. 24 (Paganini).
Other works inspired by Paganini include:
- James Barnes – Fantasy Variations on a Theme by Nicolo Paganini
- Michael Angelo Batio – No Boundaries
- Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn
- Hector Berlioz - Harold In Italy was originally commissioned by Paganini as a virtuosic piece for himself, however it did not meet with his approval.
- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco - Capriccio Diabolico for classical guitar is a homage to Paganini, and quotes "La campanella"
- Frédéric Chopin - Souvenir de Paganini for solo piano (1829; published posthumously)
- Percy Grainger – Brahms’ Paganini Variations, No. 12, for Piano
- Luigi Dallapiccola – Sonatina canonica in mi bemolle maggiore su "Capricci" di Niccolo Paganini, for piano (1946)
- Bela Fleck - "Moto Perpetuo (Bluegrass version)", from Fleck's 2001 album Perpetual Motion, which also contains a more standard rendition of the piece
- Fritz Kreisler - Paganini Concerto in D Major (recomposed paraphrase of the first movement of the Op. 6 Concerto) for violin and orchestra
- Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Fantasia for piano in C major "Souvenir de Paganini", WoO 8, S. 190.
- Franz Lehár - Paganini, a fictionalized operetta about Paganini (1925)
- Franz Liszt - Six Grandes Études de Paganini, S.141 for solo piano (1851) (virtuoso arrangements of 5 caprices, including the 24th, and La Campanella from Violin Concerto No. 2)
- Cesare Pugni - The Pas de deux from his ballet Satanella borrows themes from Paganini's Carnevale di Venezia, Op.10
- Nathan Milstein - Paganiniana, an arrangement of Caprice Nr. 24, with variations based on the other caprices
- George Rochberg - Caprice Variations (1970), 50 variations for solo violin
- Uli Jon Roth - "Scherzo Alla Paganini" and "Paganini Paraphrase"
- Robert Schumann - Studies after Caprices by Paganini, Op.3 (1832; piano); 6 Concert Studies on Caprices by Paganini, Op.10 (1833, piano). A movement from his piano work "Carnaval" (Op. 9) is named for Paganini.
- Marilyn Shrude - Renewing the Myth for alto saxophone and piano
- Philip Wilby - Paganini Variations, for both wind band and brass band
- Steve Vai - "Eugene's Trick Bag" from the movie Crossroads. Based on Caprice Nr. 5
- Eugène Ysaÿe - Paganini variations for violin and piano
Fictional portrayals
Paganini made an appearance in Hugh Lofting's children's novel Doctor Dolittle's Caravan. In this novel, Doctor Dolittle forms an opera company made up entirely of birds, instead of human performers. Paganini attends a performance of the bird opera, causing quite a stir amongst the crowd, and then meets with Doctor Dolittle after the performance to discuss it.
Paganini's life inspired several films and television series. Most famously, in a highly acclaimed Soviet 1982 miniseries Niccolo Paganini the musician is portrayed by the Armenian stage master Vladimir Msryan. The series focuses on Paganini's persecution by the Roman Catholic Church. Another Soviet cinematic legend, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan plays Paganini's fictionalized arch-rival, an insidious Jesuit official. The information in the series was generally accurate, however it also played to some of the myths and legends rampant during the musician's lifetime. In particular, a memorable scene shows Paganini's adversaries sabotaging his violin before a high-profile performance, causing all strings but one to break during the concert. An undeterred Paganini continues to perform on three, two, and finally on a single string.
In 1989 German actor Klaus Kinski portrayed Paganini in the film Kinski Paganini
Paganini is a major character in Madame Blavatsky's The Ensouled Violin, a short story included in the collection Nightmare Tales. The story recounts rumors that (a) the strings of Paganini's violin were made from human intestines and (b) Paganini murdered both his wife and mistress and imprisoned their souls in his violin.
The animated superhero series The Tick featured a supervillain known as "Octo Paganini" (who had six arms and could play three violins simultaneously) in the episode .
Media
See also
Bibliography
Violin playing as I teach it, Stokes, 1921 (reprint Dover, 1980). Alberto Bachmann, An Encyclopedia of the violin, Da Capo, 1925. Boscassi Angelo, Il Violino di Niccolò Paganini conservato nel Palazzo Municipale di Genova, Fratelli Pagano, 1909. Yehudi Menuhin and William Primrose, Violin and viola, MacDonald and Jane's, 1976. Yehudi Menuhin and Curtis W. Davis, The Music of man, Methuen, 1979. John Sugden, Paganini, Omnibus Press, 1980. Bruno Monsaingeon,The Art of violin, NVC Arts (on film), 2001. Masters of the Nineteenth Century Guitar, Mel Bay Publications.
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