Music on one string. Five Interesting Facts About Niccolo Paganini Solo on One Paganini String

“The beginning of a career is a gift from the gods; the rest is hard work."

Niccolo Paganini

Italian virtuoso violinist and composer.

His father began to teach him music from 5 years (according to other sources - from 8 ) and severely punished in case of failure ... Niccolo started performing as a performer 11 years and the first of the violinists used in concert practice the game not by notes, but by heart.

Niccolo Paganini developed extraordinary strength of the muscles of the hand - this is what a contemporary recalls: “I didn’t understand what I was more captured by: either with his incredible technique, or with the fabulous strength of the fingers, with the extraordinary grip of his left hand, I wondered how his narrow and thin fingers could produce the impression of such tremendous power. If he had an athlete's hand, like my German colleague Spurs, this could still be understood. And Niccolo just laughed at my amazement: “My fingers are stronger than you can imagine!” - and, saying this, he took a crystal plate of vegetables that stood in front of him on the table, placed it in his hand so that the middle finger was on top, and the other two below. "He'll break a plate for you," Zuccani said. And indeed, there was a strong crack and the plate broke in two. In vain did Zuccani and I break our fingers in order to demonstrate our strength in the same way. Niccolo laughed at us like the devil. Obviously, his tendons and nerves, as well as his willpower, were steel."

Grigoriev V.Yu., Niccolo Paganini. Life and work, M., "Music", 1987, p. 43.

Niccolo Paganini wrote and performed works on one violin string. Not understanding “how does he do it?”, the gossips claimed that the string was made by the violinist from the intestines of the mistress he personally killed ... But here is an assessment of the playing on one string by a modern professional violinist:
“- Could you, like Paganini, play on one string?
- Yes, removing three strings, I played the Paganini variations, which were written for one string. Such playing is not much different from playing an instrument with the usual number of strings. Apart from a purely visual, circus effect, there is nothing special about it.”

Vikulova O., Sergey Stadler: "I never play for the soul", weekly "Television and Radio", 2010, N 14, p. 33.

Contemporaries noted that “... after concerts at Paganini signs appeared close to the picture of an epileptic seizure: muscles twitched, the skin cooled, the pulse was weakly palpable, he could hardly answer questions, being practically half-disconnected from the outside world for up to 20-30 minutes. In his letters to Jermie, the artist often mentions some kind of “electricity”, as he calls it, that is born in him: “it painfully torments, but comes out of me at a concert with divine harmony.” When the artist was sick for a long time, this "electricity" accumulated, which was even more painful.

Grigoriev V.Yu., Niccolo Paganini. Life and work, M., "Music", 1987, p. 80.

The art of violin performance in subsequent centuries developed largely under the influence of Niccolo Paganini's playing techniques.

Assessing the genius of Paganini, violinist D.F. Oistrakh wrote in 1940: Paganini was an amazing complex, a wonderful combination of talent, temperament and amazing ability to use their psycho-physiological qualities. His art is the fruit of labor and genius, intuition and precise calculation. The knowledge of one's muscular apparatus and the ability to adapt to it, characteristic of Paganini, can serve as an example for every virtuoso violinist.

Oistrakh D.F., Memoirs. Articles, Interview. Letters, M., "Music", 1978, p. 151.

It remains only to bitterly regret that technical progress, which we used to call rapid, is still sometimes late. Because of this, we will never hear how Nicolò Paganini played the violin. We have only the memories of contemporaries. A small instrument in the hands of a genius did not just play, he sang, talked, expressed the most secret feelings of a person. Bright pictures of life arose before the listeners - the sounds of the street, the sound of the sea, the cry of a child, the groans of suffering and cries of joy. The audience left the concert shocked by the inhuman virtuosity of the musician's playing. “Paganini, with a soft blow of the bow, either took us to the sunniest heights, or opened before us depths full of horror,” wrote the poet Heinrich Heine.

Paganini did not like to remember his childhood in the Italian city of Genoa. And what could he remember? From morning to night, the father forced the boy to play the violin, he saw his son's talent and dreamed of making money on it. Nicolò played to the point of exhaustion, to bloody blisters on his fingers. Any pleas for mercy were answered by the father with beatings or by locking the boy in a closet without food or drink. From such a life, Nikolo was often sick, but, having barely recovered, he again took up the violin. He had teachers - the composer Gnecco, the teacher Costa, but his talent and inhuman labor helped him to achieve unsurpassed virtuosity.

Paganini early began to give concerts in the cities of Italy, and they immediately started talking about him as a "miracle". At the age of sixteen, the musician was freed from his father's care and went to Pisa, where a huge success awaited him. Since then, the fame of the virtuoso violinist has spread throughout Europe. But this fame carried a touch of scandal: both ordinary music lovers and professionals could not understand how he manages to play like that. Rumors spread that Paganini's violin was charmed, and he himself sold his soul to the devil in exchange for mastery.

In fact, the musician worked hard and tirelessly discovered new technical possibilities of his instrument. He invented a lot of effects, complex passages that, apart from him, no one could repeat. He played complex works on two and even on one string.

Paganini was not only a great violinist, but also a composer. Even now only the most outstanding musicians can perform his "24 caprices for solo violin", and then only he could play them alone. Therefore, the works of the composer during his lifetime were little known.

In 1834, Paganini settled in Parma: nomadic life became beyond his power. Four years later, for the first time, a serious illness makes itself felt. Achillino's son and friends organize Paganini's trips to French resorts, but all in vain. In the late spring of 1840, the musician dies in Nice. And even after death, his soul does not find peace for a long time: the Catholic Church forbids burying an artist in Italy. For thirty-five years, the son and friends of the musician have been seeking permission to transfer his ashes to their homeland.

Now in the city museum of Genoa, once a year, the coveted showcase is solemnly opened, in which the Paganini violin bequeathed to his native city is kept. An instrument made by Guarneri del Gesù is handed over for one evening to a young musician, the winner of the Paganini Competition. And again, in a crowded hall, a magic violin sounds, wonderful sounds ascend, and it seems that the soul of the great maestro hovers under the arches of the hall...

This is interesting

There is a legend that Paganini began to play on one string after his ill-wishers filed all the other strings on the violin before the concert. In fact, this idea was suggested to the musician by one of his admirers. After listening to how Paganini masterfully played the composition "Duet of Two Lovers" on two strings, she went up to him and said:

Maestro, you absolutely do not leave a chance for other musicians to surpass you. Perhaps only the one who plays on one string can do this, but this is impossible!

Paganini memorized her words and a few weeks later performed the sonata on one string. The news of this unheard-of event quickly spread around the city and reached its simplest inhabitants. Once the musician was late for a concert and hired a cab driver who, having recognized a celebrity, charged ten times the usual price for the fare. To the bewildered question of the rider, the coachman calmly replied:

After all, you will now charge ten francs from each of the listeners for the opportunity to hear you play on one string.

Well, - Paganini did not lose his head, - I will pay you ten francs, but only if you take me to the theater on one wheel.

Maestro Niccolo Paganini became a legend during his lifetime. His skill was explained by supernatural abilities. It was said that Paganini's hand was led by the Devil himself, to whom the musician sold his soul when he was in prison for the murder of his wife.

“There is something demonic in Paganini. This is how the one who sold his soul to the devil plays- read one of the denunciations to the Vatican.

The composer Liszt wrote of these rumors: “That's when the legends of the Middle Ages about witches and ghosts surfaced. The miracles created by his game began to be associated with the past, the mystery of his inexplicable genius was tried to comprehend only with the help of even more mysterious phenomena. We agreed almost to the point that he allegedly sold his soul to the devil and that very fourth string on which he extracted such magical melodies, as if made from the intestines of his wife, whom he strangled with his own hands ... "

Despite his sinister reputation, Paganini was a favorite of women. The most beautiful ladies of Europe gave him their love. In amorous affairs, the musician could compete with the hero-lover of Casanova.

“Paganini drives me to hysteria. I enjoy him more than I can express it in words - his fantastic, airy figure, his look full of delight, and the sounds that he extracts from the violin - everything is supernatural "- admired the mystical lady Mary Shelley - the author of "Frankenstein".

Terrible legends did not leave Paganini even after his death. The episcopate forbade burying the musician in Christian cemeteries. For almost five years, Paganini's body was not buried; the coffin stood among the rocks of one of the islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Sailors said that passing by the rocks at night, they heard the sounds of music.

Paganini at first did not refute the diabolical rumors about his talent, regarding them as advertising. Then, when gossip became fanatical and the musician faced aggression, he began to write rebuttals, regretting that he was credited with all sorts of atrocities.

“In truth, I am very annoyed that the opinion is spreading in all classes of society that I am the devil” the maestro complained in a letter to a friend.

The appearance of the maestro also seemed sinister. A contemporary wrote: “He is so thin that it is absolutely impossible to imagine even greater thinness; his face is pale, with a yellowish tinge, and when he bows, his body moves in such a strange way that it seems as if his legs are about to come off his body and he will collapse to the ground in a heap of bones.

A friendly caricature of Paganini by the artist Lizer, who was confident in the mystical power of the musician

Paganini himself attributed his success to long and hard work from early childhood.
An angel appeared to Paganini's mother in a dream and predicted that her son would become a great musician. The boy's father Antonio Paganini, regarding his wife's dream as an omen, took up his son's musical education. Antonio himself dreamed of becoming a famous musician, but he only managed to open a shop for musical instruments. Niccolo developed an interest in music and made progress.

The father demanded more diligence from his son. It was said that he even beat the boy when he could not play a difficult melody correctly. From overloads, Niccolo became seriously ill. The boy was nearly buried alive. Sometimes a person falls into a lethargic sleep from fatigue and stress, this happened with Niccolo. Fortunately, he woke up in the church during the funeral service. It was said that unknown forces in the next world endowed Paganini with a special musical gift.

The father, pleased with the success of his son, persuaded the composer Alexander Roll to give the boy a few lessons. When Paganini came to the lesson, the maestro was unwell, and the boy had to wait. Paganini saw sheet music on the table and, in order to pass the waiting time, played the violin. The maestro heard the excellent playing of his work and hurried into the living room. Seeing the young violinist, he exclaimed: “I have nothing to teach you!”.

From a young age, Pagnini began to give concerts in his native Genoa. Having matured and got rid of his father's guardianship, he continued to financially help his family, giving the bulk of the fee.

Having achieved success and good income, the musician could not avoid temptations. Passion for card games almost ruined him. Paganini left the received fees in gambling houses, losing to local cheats. Only once Paganini managed to win back. The comrade congratulated him on his first win and said - God himself helped you! Paganini thought - does God really help the players? Usually the Devil lures into the temptations of the game. Paganini was seized by superstitious fear, and he decided never to take up gambling again.

The story about Paganini's talent to play on one string is not fiction. Contradictory legends are told about the reason for this musical experiment by the maestro. According to one version, before the concert, the musician's enemies cut off all the strings on his violin, except for one. The musician was not taken aback and played on one string. According to another version, the maestro was inspired by fans who enthusiastically said that Paganini would only be surpassed by the one who played on one string. To the delight of the public, Paganini outdid himself.

On one "fourth string" the maestro played his famous work "Witches", written under the impression of the performance "Nut of Benevento", in which the sorceresses danced around the tree at the coven. The theme of music strengthened the gossips' confidence in the impure power of the musician.

Newspapers wrote about the success of Paganini's "Witches":
“Paganini is undoubtedly the first and greatest violinist in the world. His playing style is incomprehensible. He performs such passages, jumps, double notes that no violinist has ever performed before. He plays (in a very special manner) the most difficult passages in two, three, four voices; he imitates wind instruments; he performs a chromatic scale in the highest register - at the filly (stand) itself, and so cleanly that it seems almost unbelievable; he plays amazingly the most daring passages on a single string, and at the same time jokingly hits low pizzicato notes on other strings, so that it seems as if several instruments are playing at the same time.

His Fourth String Variations (which he repeated at the urging of the audience) amazed everyone. Nobody has ever heard anything like it. Completely unique in his manner, the violinist delighted the audience many times over – within six weeks he gave eleven concerts at the Teatro alla Scala and the Teatro Carcano. His variations called Witches were especially successful.

The writer Stendhal in his book "The Life of Rossini" created a languid image of the musician:
“Paganini, the first violinist of Italy and probably the North, is now 35 years old. He has black eyes, a penetrating look and a lush head of hair. This ardent soul was brought to the heights of mastery not by long hard studies and study at the conservatory, but by a sad love story, because of which, as they say, he spent many years in prison, in stocks, forgotten and lonely by everyone. There he had only one consolation - the violin, and he learned to pour out his soul on it. Long years of imprisonment and allowed him to reach the heights of art ... "

Paganini was outraged by such a description of his person, he turned to a lawyer for help:
“I am enclosing in this letter a copy of an article concerning me, which, by some madness, was inserted by Mr. Stendhal in Paris into the Life of Rossini. Such ridiculous allegations will allow you, with your foresight, to write a special article in due course to show what tactless conclusions they can lead to. This is enough for you to know how to proceed.”

The legend about Paganini's criminal past is also not accidental. The musician, indeed, was in prison, but not for murder - as gossips chatted, but for love affairs in his youth. One of Paganini's mistresses became pregnant and complained to her father, who had the "tempter" arrested. For freedom, the musician had to pay 1,200 gold pieces. Paganini was ready to recognize the child and take him up, but the baby was born dead. They said that the clever girlfriend, together with her father, deceived the maestro.

The artist Boulanger, inspired by the story of the musician, painted his portrait in prison. Boulanger was on the side of Paganini and publicly defended the reputation of the maestro: “It is ridiculous to attack a person who is admired by the whole world”. However, the portrait only fueled the gossips' confidence that Paganini spent most of his life in prison and concluded a pact with the Devil.

It was said that Paganini even had a diabolical violin: "I would like to know what kind of wood his violin is made of? Some people say that it is from satanic."

Modern performance. Victor Zinchuk "Caprice No. 24. Paganini"

Paganini wrote in a letter to a friend that gossipers had confused him with another musician who committed the murder:
“One violinist named D...i (Duranovski), who lived in Milan in 1798, contacted some dark personalities and agreed to go with them to the village at night to kill a rich parish priest there. But one of the criminals betrayed his accomplices at the last moment. The police went to the scene of the crime and found D ... and his friend there. They were sentenced to twenty years hard labor. But General Menu, who became governor of Milan, released the violinist two years later.

And you can imagine that this whole story served as the basis for fiction about me. It was about a violinist, whose name also ended in "i", and he became Paganini. It was not the priest who was killed, but my mistress or my rival, and I was also imprisoned. And since I still needed to somehow explain where I learned to play like that, I was released from handcuffs that prevented me from practicing. Once again, in order to reach complete similarity, it is necessary that I yield. But I still cherish the hope that after my death, slander will finally leave its victim and those who so cruelly avenge my successes will leave my ashes alone.

Indeed, envious people spread unpleasant rumors about the maestro. Arriving in the city with a concert, the musician found out that the townspeople had already discussed his "biography". At first, Paganini was greeted with caution, but the brilliant performance delighted the audience. They were ready to forgive him even murders and deals with demons.

With concerts, the maestro traveled all over Europe, successfully performing in Italy, France, and Germany.
“Let us rejoice that this magician is our contemporary! And let him also congratulate himself on this, because if he played the violin in this way a hundred years ago, he would have been burned like a sorcerer ... " newspapers wrote.

The famous composer Rossini ironically expressed his admiration: “I have only cried three times in my life. The first time, when my first opera failed, the second time, when a turkey stuffed with truffles fell into the water during a boat trip, and the third time, when I heard Paganini play.

Heinrich Heine described the eerie image of the maestro:
“A dark figure appeared on the stage, which seemed to have just emerged from the underworld. It was Paganini in his black full dress: a black tailcoat, a black vest of a terrifying cut, perhaps prescribed by hellish etiquette at the court of Proserpina. Black trousers in the most pathetic way in the angular movements of his body there was something frighteningly wooden and at the same time something senselessly animal, so that these bows must inevitably arouse laughter, but his face, which seemed in the bright light of the footlight, was even more deadly - pale, expressed at that moment such a plea, such unthinkable humiliation, that laughter ceased, suppressed by some terrible pity.

“He was in a dark gray coat to the toes, which made his figure seem very tall. Long black hair fell in tangled curls to his shoulders and, like a dark frame, surrounded his pale, dead face, on which genius and suffering left their indelible track".

The German reporter in his article also described the peculiar appearance of the musician:
“Before us is a tall, thin figure in some kind of old-fashioned suit. The bow is raised high, the slightly bent right leg is firmly set forward. Only bones and spirit cover this robe, which seems too spacious for him. There is just enough flesh to gather together his passion and so that this dilapidated body does not fall apart.

Framed by long black hair and curly whiskers, his long, pale face is calm. His motionless, frozen seriousness contrasts surprisingly with the lively brilliance of his brown eyes. A beautiful high forehead speaks of the nobility of nature and impressionability, an aquiline nose indicates courage, and tightly compressed lips betray cunning, mistrust and irony.

Suddenly, his cold and gloomy features are distorted by intense suffering and an amazing combination of tragic and comic, one might even say, a combination of good nature and devilry at the same time. If the features that directly bear the true stamp of genius can be called beautiful, then his head can also be called beautiful, capable of arousing and awakening the most ardent sympathy at first sight.

Mysticism was certainly present in Paganini's work. Like his predecessor, colleague Mozart, Paganini was even a member of the Masonic lodge and was the author of Masonic hymns. Freemasons gathered in their ranks the best artists.

Paganini died at the age of 57 in Nice. He fell asleep with an eternal sleep, clutching a violin in his hands. It was said that the maestro had worn himself out with constant concerts. He wanted to leave a rich legacy to his family. The musician did not skimp on gifts to his relatives, but he himself lived modestly, even bought worn clothes and bargained with sellers.

The maestro bequeathed all the fortune he earned to his son Akilla and sister.

In his will, the maestro stated:
“I forbid any grand funeral. I don't want artists to perform a requiem for me. May a hundred masses be performed. I present my violin to Genoa to keep it there forever. I give my soul to the great mercy of my creator."

The church did not allow the burial of a musician who had contacted the dark forces. Paganini's son, Achille, tried in vain to obtain permission for burial. He traveled on a ship with his father's coffin in the Mediterranean, trying to find a haven for the maestro in port cities, but to no avail. The sailors who served on the ship said that the coffin with the body of Paganini shone at night.

Akille left the coffin in a cave on a rocky island in the middle of the sea. The coffin stood in a stone shelter for five years, while the son sought permission to bury his father.

From the bishop's instructions:
“I cannot answer you officially until I receive a more specific order. However, I consider it necessary to warn you and warn you - if it is possible to glorify Paganini as a wonderful musician, then as a person one should not shower him with praises, which he does not deserve in any way, since he forgot at the hour of death that he was a Christian.

The story of the wanderings of the coffin with the body of the musician was told by Guy de Maupassant:
“Approaching the island of Saint Honorat, we pass near a naked, red, bristling, like a porcupine, rock, so prickly, so armed with teeth, points and claws that it is almost impossible to step on it; one would have to put one's foot in the depressions between its thorns and move forward with caution; it is called Saint-Ferreol.

A small amount of earth, taken from nowhere, accumulated in the cracks and crevices of the rock, and there grew a special breed of lilies, as well as lovely blue irises, the seeds of which seemed to have fallen from the sky.
On this bizarre reef, rising in the open sea, the ashes of Paganini remained buried and hidden for five years.

The son loaded his father's body onto a ship and headed for Italy. But the Genoese clergy refused to bury this possessed man. They requested Rome, but the curia did not dare to give permission. The body was going to be unloaded, but the municipality prevented this under the pretext that the artist had allegedly died of cholera. An epidemic of this disease was then raging in Genoa, and the authorities considered that the presence of a new corpse would lead to an increase in the disaster.
Paganini's son returned to Marseille, where he was not allowed to land for the same reasons. He went to Cannes, but could not land there either.

So Achille remained at sea, cradling the body of his father on the waves, this strange genius, whom people drove from everywhere. He did not know what to do, where to go, where to carry the body sacred to him, when he suddenly saw the bare rock of Saint-Ferreol among the waves. There, on the island, he buried his father.

Only in 1845 did Achille return with two friends for the remains of his father and transported them to Genoa to Villa Gaione. Wouldn't it be better for the extraordinary violinist to remain on the bristly reef, where the waves sing in bizarre rocks?

In 1893, the musician's grave was opened for the reburial of the remains. According to eyewitnesses, the composer's face remained untouched by decay. Local residents claimed that at night they heard the sounds of music from underground.

In conclusion, the song of the group "Aria" - "Playing with Fire". Rollers are different - shots from two different films.

In continuation of the love affairs of Paganini and the legend in the city of Nice.

1. Paganini was very superstitious
The personality of the great violinist was shrouded in mystery, which was facilitated by an amazing "demonic" appearance and incredibly long fingers. There were persistent rumors about his superstitiousness, which gave rise to the assumption of his atheism or even that Paganini made a deal with the devil, buying his talent from him, and the church even tried to ban his concerts. The Bishop of Nice, where Paganini died, even refused a funeral mass, but the pope intervened. Whatever it was, but
The violinist was very afraid of the devil. At the same time, he still looked into the gambling house with a friend, where he regularly lost, like his father. And only once, when Paganini went into an institution with a few lire, and left with a considerable fortune in his pocket, he got scared, whispering: “It's him, the devil!” “Maybe God helped you win today!” - tried to reassure his friend, but the musician objected: "It is unlikely that God would make a person get a lot of unearned money ...". Since then, Paganini has never visited the gambling house.

2. Famous musicians were ready to write a will after listening to Paganini
The mysterious halo around his name Paganini supported himself. He often talked about the extraordinary secrets of his skill, which he would reveal only after the end of his career. In fact, Paganini easily surprised the inexperienced spectator not only with his talent, but also with his extraordinary technique and impeccable purity of performance. In his time, the rich possibilities of the violin had not yet been discovered; Paganini himself found new effects. When the musician performed a composition of just two strings in front of the audience, one admirer enthusiastically said: “You are an intolerable person, you leave nothing to others! Who can surpass you? Is it the one who plays on one string, but this is impossible! A few weeks later, Paganini played a sonata on one string at concerts. Other violinists, having listened to the music of the Italian talent, joked that they could now write a will.

3. Paganini had a precious collection of violins
From childhood, the little violin was his favorite toy, although his father was too strict with his son, forcing him to study to the point of exhaustion ... Much later, such magnificent instruments as Stradivari, Amati, Guarneri violins will appear in the Paganini collection. The latter was Paganini's most beloved violin, he bequeathed it to his native city of Genoa - he did not want any other musician to play it. Entering the stage, Paganini was transformed, as if becoming a different person and found himself in complete mental fusion with the violin. The instrument played by the great musician, after his death, received the name "Paganini's Widow".

4. Paganini was fantastically distracted
It seemed that he did not care at all about those aspects of his own life that did not concern music. He confused the year of his birth, wrote that he was the second son in the family, although there were two more brothers in the family. The maestro was quite indifferent to such mistakes, declaring that his memory "is not in the head, but in the hands when they hold the violin."

5. Paganini also spoke to monarchs
European rulers invited him for a personal performance and paid large fees. Once Paganini even sang the Masonic anthem in the Grand Lodge of Italy. That's just because of the love of gambling, Paganini was often left without money for food. Nevertheless, by old age he still accumulated a small fortune - perhaps not the last role was played by the refusal to gamble. Yes, and Paganini himself tried not to sell too cheap: when the English king offered the violinist half the required fee for the performance, Paganini in response offered not to spend money and attend his concert in the theater for a smaller amount. And when the driver tried to charge the violinist four times the usual price (“You also charge a lot for your concerts, but you play only one string!”), Paganini replied: “Well, I will pay the appointed amount if you take me to places on one wheel.

Niccolo Paganini played the violin with such virtuosity that many believed that he signed a pact with the devil, this assumption became even more common after the discovery of Paganini's will when he died in 1840, which he refused to be buried in the cemetery.

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