Nicolo Paganini

Nicolo Paganini: a biography
By J.G. Prod'homme
Translated by Alice Mattullath
Contents I-Paganini's youth and early travels in Italy II-The man and the artist III-Travels abroad. (I) Austria, Poland Germany IV-Travels abroad. (II) Paris, London, etc. V-Return to Italy; last stay in France; death of Paganini; his posthumous adventures VI-Paganini as a composer; his works
Excerpt from Chapter I There are certain names in history which attain universal popularity and have the rare distinction of symbolizing a particular art or an entire epoch. Even the ignorant know them and use them to express a definite train of thought. What name more popular than Raphael's? Does it not typify perfection in the art of painting? Mozart's name in music has an equal standing. As to the name of Paganini--more even than that of Liszt, whose fame as a virtuoso for so long overshadowed that of the composer, --it has become almost mythical. "To play like Paganini," like this Paganini whose memory lives forever, is to the masses the highest praise which can be bestowed upon an executant musician. It is difficult to determine just when this widespread fame originated, especially in the absence of authentic documents; however, it can be positively stated that up to 1828 Paganini's glory was entirely of Italian making, his first foreign appearance, at Vienna, being the flash which lit the fire of enthusiasm in all Europe. Furthermore, it is difficult to retrace in detail the first thirty years of the artist's eventful life, which, even before he left his native country, had been embellished by anecdotes of more or less authenticity. Born at Genoa, February, 18th, 1784, Nicolo Paganini was the son of Antonio Paganini and Terese Bocciardi, "both amateur musicians," as he states in a brief autobiography; "when I was five and a half years of age, I was taught to play the mandolin by my father, a broker. "About this time the Savior appeared to my mother in a dream and told her that a prayer should be fulfilled to her; she requested that her son should become a great violinist and this was granted her. When I attained my seventh year, my father, whose ear was unmusical, but who was nevertheless passionately fond of music, gave me my elementary lessons on the violin; in a very few months I was able to play all manner of compositions at sight." Nicolo's first teachers were Giovanni Servetto, a man of little merit, says Fetis, with whom he did not remain long, and afterward Giacomo Costa, Musical Director and first violin of some of the prominent churches at Genoa, from whom he took thirty lessons in six months. At the early age of eight Paganini composed... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Windham Press is committed to bringing the lost cultural heritage of ages past into the 21st century through high-quality reproductions of original, classic printed works at affordable prices. This book has been carefully crafted to utilize the original images of antique books rather than error-prone OCR text. This also preserves the work of the original typesetters of these classics, unknown craftsmen who laid out the text, often by hand, of each and every page you will read. Their subtle art involving judgment and interaction with the text is in many ways superior and more human than the mechanical methods utilized today, and gave each book a unique, hand-crafted feel in its text that connected the reader organically to the art of bindery and book-making. We think these benefits are worth the occasional imperfection resulting from the age of these books at the time of scanning, and their vintage feel provides a connection to the past that goes beyond the mere words of the