Niccolo Paganini
(27 October 1782 ? 27 May 1840) was an
Italian
composer
and
violin
player. He is believed to be one of the greatest violinists who ever lived. He is known for 24 Caprices for Solo Violin and his La Campanella.
Paganini was born October 27, 1782 in
Genoa
(in modern Italy). He started the violin at age seven and took private lessons from local violinists. Paganini repeatedly outperformed his teachers such that he always had to search for new ones. He would pick up the guitar, but rarely played the guitar in public. He would start giving concerts around Italy around 1800. For many years, Paganini performed primarily in regions surrounding his hometown.
In 1813, he performed at the
La Scala
in Milan and gained more attention beyond local regions. He receives Order of the Golden Spur from
Pope Leo VII
in 1827. Between 1828 and 1831 he toured cities in present-day
Germany
,
Poland
and
Czech Republic
and many other large cities across Europe. This tour spread his fame beyond Italy.
Paganini was the perfect
virtuoso
during his time although many other violinists slowly approach and some appear to be as virtuosic as him too. He was said to be a show off during his time and many wanted to challenge his violin skills. Paganini once broke all of the strings on his violin except the G-string and played a piece just on one string to show how good he was. He intonated the violin in a different way to sound different. He was the master of violin technique and invented many new techniques such as
ricochet
bowing, flying
staccato
, and left hand
pizzicato
.
He met and became friends with
Gioachino Rossini
and
Hector Berlioz
. Paganini was also good friends with
Franz Liszt
, a similarly magnificent virtuoso. Liszt admired Paganini. In his teenage years he watched Paganini playing, and determined to be a virtuoso as Paganini in piano.
Despite his success, Paganini was frequently sick and the concert tours did not help his health. In 1834, he gave up his concert tours. He would later be employed by
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
, former Empress of the French and be in charge of the court orchestra. He tried to open a
Casino
in Paris, but failed. He died from internal hemorrhaging in 1840 in Nice, France.
Paganini played violins by Giuseppe Guarneri. One was called
Il Cannone Guarnerius
("The Cannon of Guarnieri"). Other violins and instruments connected to him include
Stradivari
. They include the
Paganini-Desaint
1680
Stradivari
, the
Le Brun
1712 Stradivari, the
Hubay
1726 Stradivari, the
Mendelssohn
1731 Stradivari violas and the
Ladenburg
1736 Stradivari cellos. Other Italian instrument names connected to him are Amati, Goffriller and Bertolotti.
He primarily wrote for violin which he then performed. His most famous work is 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1. They are etudes dealing with different violin skills. Other notable works by Paganini include Violin Concertos No. 1 & 2,
Moses Fantasy
,
Centone di Sonate
, Vol. 1,
Le Streghe, Op. 8, Caprice d’Adieu, Op. 68, Ghiribizzi, Variations on ‘God Save the King’, Op. 9 and Moto Perpetuo.
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