Niccolo Paganini: biography, interesting facts, creativity

Niccolo Paganini

The personality of Niccolò Paganini has always attracted the attention of the public, some saw him as a real genius, while others were a fraudster, refusing to believe in such an extraordinary talent. Even today, no one can deny the fact that he was a real maestro and even though the virtuoso violinist went to eternity, but his works, as well as memories of his phenomenal talent, remained. The whole life of the great musician is shrouded in secrets and omissions that accompanied him everywhere.

A short biography of Niccolò Paganini and many interesting facts about the composer can be found on our page.

Short biography of Paganini

The future musician was born in Genoa on October 27, 1782. His father was a petty trader, but at the same time, Antonio Paganini was very fond of music and dreamed that his son would become a great musician. Virtually all Niccolò childhood devoted to studies on the instrument. From nature, he got an unusually sharp ear, and every day his father realized that Niccolò was waiting for the glory of a true virtuoso, so it was decided to hire him a professional teacher.

So his first mentor, not counting his father, became Francesca Gnecco, who was a composer and violinist. These lessons helped to further reveal the talent of the little musician, and already at the age of eight he creates his first sonata.

The rumor of a small genius gradually spread throughout the small town and the violinist Giacomo Costa paid close attention to Niccolò, who now began to study with the boy every week. These lessons have brought great benefits to the beginning musician and he, thanks to this, was able to start a concert activity. So, the first concert of the future virtuoso took place at the age of 12, in 1794.

After this, many influential people noticed Niccolò. For example, Giancarlo di Negro, a famous aristocrat, became the patron and a true friend of a talented musician, helping him with further training. Thanks to his support, Gasparo Giretti, who taught him composition, became Paganini’s new teacher. In particular, he taught the musician to use the inner ear while composing melodies. Under the guidance of a teacher, for several months Paganini was able to compose 24 fugues, plays, and even violin concertos.

Inspired by the success of his talented son, Antonio Paganini hurried to take on the duties of an impresario and began to prepare a tour of the country. The performance of such a gifted child made a real sensation. It was during this period that famous capriccios, who made a real revolution in the world of violin music, emerged from his pen.

Soon Niccolò decides to start a life and career independent of his parents, the more he gets a tempting offer - the place of the first violin in Lucca. He becomes not only the manager of the city orchestra, but continues to perform successfully throughout the country. Concerts of the musician are still held brilliantly and cause rapid enthusiasm among the public.

It is known that Paganini was very in love and it was during this period of time that the virtuoso violinist met his first love. He even stopped touring for three years and is seriously interested in composition. Niccolò dedicates his works composed during this period to "Signore Dide". It is no secret that Paganini is credited with many novels, even with the most august persons. It is about the sister of Napoleon Elise, who was married to Felice Bakacchi (ruler in Lucca). The composer even dedicated the “Love Scene” to her, which he wrote for only two strings. This work was very popular with the public, and the princess herself proposed to the maestro to compose a play for one string already. In the biography of Pagania, there is such a fact that after some time the maestro presented the Napoleon sonata for the string “Salt”. It is also known that after a few years the violinist himself decided to stop communicating with Eliza.

After a while, returning to his hometown, Niccolò was already carried away by the tailor’s daughter, Angelina Cavanna, whom he even took with him to Parma. However, it soon became clear that the girl was in a position, and therefore she was forced to go back to Genoa. Preserved information that Angelina's father filed for the musician in the tribunal and the court, which lasted two years, which decided to pay the victim a considerable sum of money.

In 1821, Paganini’s health deteriorated greatly, because he devoted a lot of his time to music and did not take care of himself at all. The musician tried to relieve coughing and pain with various ointments, traveling to seaside resorts, but nothing helped. Because of this, Nikolo was forced to temporarily stop the concert activities.

In the spring of 1824, the violinist unexpectedly visits Milan, where he immediately begins to organize his own concert. After that, he successfully performs in Pavia and his native Genoa. It is at this time that he again meets his former love, Anthony Bianca, a famous singer. After some time, their son Achilles is born.

During this period, Paganini devotes a lot of time to the composition, constantly writing regular masterpieces: "Military Sonata", Concerto for Violin No. 2 - these works become the real culmination of his career. In 1830, after a successful performance in Westphalia, he was awarded the title of baron.

In 1839, Niccolò went to Nice, where he rented a small house for himself and literally didn’t go anywhere for a few months due to poor health. His condition was so weakened that he could not take his favorite instrument in his hands. The famous violinist and composer died in 1840.

Interesting Facts

• It is still unknown whether the famous musician ever attended school. The researchers note that in his manuscripts there are a lot of blunders, and even in those written in adulthood.
• It is no secret that Paganini was born in the family of a small merchant, although initially his father even worked as a loader. However, as it later became known, during the census, Napoleon ordered that the documents indicate that Paganini’s father was a “mandolin holder”.
• There is a story that the mother of a future virtuoso somehow saw an angel in a dream, who told her that their son Niccolò was waiting for the career of a great musician. Father Paganini, having heard this, was very inspired and delighted, because he dreamed of just that.
• Already at the age of 5, little Niccolò began to study on the mandolin, and a year later on the violin. His father often locked him in the attic so that he would spend more time behind the instrument, which later affected the health of the musician.
• For the first time on stage, Paganini performed on July 31, 1795 at the Sant'Agostino Theater, his native city. With the proceeds from the concert, Niccolò, 12, was able to go to Parma to continue his studies with Alessandro Rolla.
• When Antonio Paganini and his son came to Alessandro Rolla, he could not accept them because of his bad state of health. Next to the musician's room lay his instrument and the notes of the work he composed. Little Niccolò took this violin and played what was written on note paper. Hearing his game, Alessandro Rolla went to the guests and said that he could not teach this artist anything more, as he already knows everything.
• Paganini concerts always created a real sensation, and especially impressionable ladies even lost consciousness. He thought through all the smallest details, even a “suddenly broken string” or an upset instrument, everything was part of his ingenious program.
• Because of Paganini’s ability to imitate the violin, bird singing, human conversation, playing the guitar and other instruments, he was called the “Southern Sorcerer”.

• The musician flatly refused to compose psalms for Catholics, thus incurring the wrath of the clergy with whom he subsequently clashed for a long time.
• It is known that Paganini was a freemason and even composed a masonic hymn.
• Among all the rumors that circulated around the person of the violinist, there is a legend that he specifically addressed the surgeon to perform a covert operation, which allowed him to significantly increase the flexibility of his hands.
• Niccolò was very distracted, he could hardly remember even the date of his birth. Often in the documents he indicated the wrong year, and each time these were different dates.

• In the biography of Paganini, there is a story about how the maestro once refused the English king himself. Having received an invitation from him to perform at the court for a rather modest fee, Paganini invited the king to his concert in the theater so that he could save even more on this.
• Paganini had a very strong passion for gambling, because of this, the famous musician was often left without funds. He even had to mortgage his instrument several times and ask for money from his comrades. Only after the birth of the heir, he tied with cards.
• He was a very popular performer, and for performances Niccolò received huge fees by the standards. After his death, he left a legacy of several million francs.
• Surprisingly, the musician did not really like to write his compositions on paper, as he wanted to be their only performer. However, one violinist was able to surprise him very much, it is about the composer Heinrich Ernst, who performed the variations of Paganini at his concert.

• During the life around the maestro, there were a lot of rumors that even "well-wishers" sent letters to his parents in which they tried to sully the name of the musician. That there is only a legend that he perfected his skillful game in prison. Even in Stendhal's novel, this strange fabrication is mentioned.
• The press quite often in the last years of the musician's life reported erroneously about his death, later they had to write a refutation, and Paganini’s popularity only grew in connection with this. When the composer died in Nice, the print media published an obituary again and even made a small note that they hope that a refutation will be printed again soon.
• In the collection of the maestro there were several violins, among them the works of Stradivari, Amati, but his most beloved Guarneri, he bequeathed to the town where he was born. One of his tools is now stored in Russia. This is a violin made by Carlo Bergonzi, which was acquired by Maxim Viktorov in 2005 for $ 1.1 million.

Paganini Violin History

The composer himself gave a very unusual name to his favorite instrument - “Gun”. It was connected with the events that took place in his country in the first half of the XIX century. He made the violin by Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri in 1743. Researchers point out that a Paris merchant presented a 17-year-old musician with an instrument. The violin immediately attracted Niccolo's attention by the power of the sound and became his favorite. He was very kind to her and once even turned to the violin master, because the instrument had lost its voice. Arriving a few days later, the Maestro was relieved to hear the familiar sound of the violin, and as a reward he gave Master William a valuable casket strewn with gems. He explained his generous gift by saying that at one time he had two such caskets. He presented one of them to his doctor for curing his body. Now he gave the second master, as he healed his "Cannon".

In his testament, Paganini indicated that his entire collection of tools should be handed over to Genoa, where he was born and never left the city. This also applies to the "Guns", which later was called the "Widow Paganini". This was due to the fact that no one else could extract from it the same sound, which was obtained from the Maestro.

Paganini’s violin is currently under close observation at the Palazzo Doria-Tursi museum, and there are some other personal things of the musician. Despite the fact that the instrument is kept permanently in the museum, sometimes it can still be heard in the concert hall. True, only the winner of the Paganini music contest is allowed to play it.

The secret of extraordinary talent Paganini

There were always legends around Paganini’s extraordinary talent, and what stories alone did not invent his contemporaries to try to explain his brilliant violin playing. Collusion with otherworldly forces, a special operation, fraud - all these rumors, only a small part of the many others surrounding the musician. American doctor Myron Schoenfeld also tried to explain the secret of the maestro’s violin technique. In his opinion, the whole thing is a hereditary disease from which Paganini suffered.

However, the musician himself, shortly before his death, decided to share the main secret of his talent. It turns out that all those rumors that surrounded him all his life have nothing to do with him and the whole thing is a complete spiritual fusion with his instrument. The musician believed that you need to watch and feel the whole world through the violin. It is hard to deny the fact that Paganini did it perfectly. Plus, one should not forget that since childhood he has devoted his whole life to his beloved work - performing, refining and honing his skills for days and hours.

Paganini Films

Many interesting films have been made on the biography of Paganini, I especially want to highlight the work of Leonid Menaker "Niccolò Paganini" (1982). He was shot based on the work of A. K. Vinogradov "The Condemnation of Paganini" and was specially timed to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Maestro. This is a four-part film that tells about the life of the legendary violinist, his feelings, feelings, creativity, helping to understand his mystical and multifaceted nature. The violin part was performed by Leonid Kogan. It is known that the director originally wanted to invite the well-known conductor Yuri Temirkanov to the main role, but he did not agree.

Another notable work is the Paganini film (1989) by Klaus Kinsky. It is noteworthy that this is his only experience as a director. He also played a major role, performing a great musician. Klaus Kinsky showed amazing Paganini, whose life was balanced on the edge of the abyss. Nobody has ever seen such a violinist.

Bernard Rose's drama Paganini: The Devil's Fiddler, conquered the world in 2013. The leading role was played by the famous singer David Garrett. The director took as a basis the rumors about the Italian violinist. Indeed, many of his contemporaries were convinced that he sold his soul to the devil and received an extraordinary gift. On his way, Paganini meets a beautiful girl, but can he know happiness? In this film, some mysteries from the life of the Maestro.

The extraordinary virtuoso and wonderful play of Paganini on the violin gave rise to many legends and mystical stories of his contemporaries. It could not be otherwise, because the maestro played in such a way that the ladies present in the hall fainted, and especially meticulous listeners peered behind the scenes, trying to see the second musician helping him there. But naturally, they did not see anything, because there was no one there, and they had no choice but to write off this ingenious game of the machinations of the ruler of the Underworld. Paganini left behind 24 caprices, 6 concertos for violin, a large number of variations, sonatas and other works for violin and guitar. In addition, he left many legends about himself, about life and his extraordinary talent, which to this day excite the imagination of admirers of his work.