Paganini, Niccolò

Pa·ga·ni·ni (păg'ə-nēʹnē, pä'gä-), Niccolò. 1782-1840.

Italian violinist and composer whose works include six violin concertos and many other virtuoso violin pieces.

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born Oct. 27, 1782, Genoa, Republic of Genoa

died May 27, 1840, Nice, France

Italian violinist and composer.

A prodigy, he joined an orchestra by age nine. He toured Italy (1810–28), renowned as its greatest violin virtuoso. His long-deferred international tour (1830–34) met with sensational success. Paganini's romantic personality and adventures created in his own day the legend of a Mephistophelean figure. He greatly extended violin technique, employing a wide use of harmonics, pizzicato effects, and new methods of fingering and even of tuning. His numerous compositions include 24 Caprices (1801–07) for solo violin, displaying the novel features of his technique, and six violin concertos.

Paganini, etching by Luigi Calamatta after a drawing by J.-A.-D. Ingres, 1818

The Granger Collection, New York City

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▪ Italian composer

born Oct. 27, 1782, Genoa, republic of Genoa [Italy]

died May 27, 1840, Nice, Fr.

 Italian composer and principal violin virtuoso of the 19th century. A popular idol, he inspired the Romantic mystique of the virtuoso and revolutionized violin technique.

      After initial study with his father, Paganini studied with a local violinist, G. Servetto, and then with the celebrated Giacomo Costa. He made his first appearance in 1793 and then studied with Alessandro Rolla and Gaspare Ghiretti at Parma. In 1797, accompanied by his father, he toured Lombardy, where with each concert his reputation grew. Gaining his independence soon after, he indulged excessively in gambling and romantic love affairs. At one point he pawned his violin because of gambling debts; a French merchant lent him a Guarneri violin to play a concert and, after hearing him, gave him the instrument.

      Between 1801 and 1807 he wrote the 24 Capricci for unaccompanied violin, displaying the novel features of his technique, and the two sets of six sonatas for violin and guitar. He reappeared in Italy as a violinist in 1805 and was appointed director of music at Piombino by Napoleon's sister, Élisa Bonaparte Baciocchi. He later gave recitals of his own compositions in many towns in Italy and in 1815 formed his long attachment with the dancer Antonia Bianchi.

      In 1828 Paganini experienced great success in Vienna, and his appearances in Paris and London in 1831 were equally sensational. His tour of England and Scotland in 1832 made him a wealthy man. In 1833 he settled in Paris, where he commissioned Hector Berlioz to write his symphony Harold en Italie. Paganini thought that the challenge of its viola solo was too slight, however, and he never played it. Following the failure of the Casino Paganini, a gambling house in which he had invested, he went to Marseille in 1839, then to Nice.

      Paganini's romantic personality and adventures created in his own day the legend of a Mephistophelean figure. Stories circulated that he was in league with the devil and that he had been imprisoned for murder; his burial in consecrated ground was delayed for five years. He was long regarded as a miser, but a more accurate portrait would consider his desire to be free from a train of dependent followers and their importunities for his largesse. His gift of 20,000 francs to the struggling composer Berlioz (Berlioz, Hector) was an act of generosity seemingly uncharacteristic; possibly Paganini, recognizing in “Beethoven's successor” a worthy talent, thought it was his duty to come to the composer's aid.

      His violin technique, based on that of his works, principally the Capricci, the violin concertos, and the sets of variations, demanded a wide use of harmonics and pizzicato effects, new methods of fingering and even of tuning. In performance he improvised brilliantly. He was also a flamboyant showman who used trick effects such as severing one or two violin strings and continuing the piece on the remaining strings. His technical innovations were imitated by later virtuosi, notably Pablo Sarasate and Eugène Ysaÿe. His other works include 6 violin concertos, of which the first, in D major, is especially popular; 12 sonatas for violin and guitar; and 6 quartets for violin, viola, cello, and guitar. The influence of his virtuosity extended to orchestral as well as to piano music. His influence on Franz Liszt (Liszt, Franz) was immense. Themes from the Capricci inspired works by Liszt, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Sergey Rachmaninoff.

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