Niccolo PAGANINI
None of the violinists enjoyed such popularity, as many books have been written about anyone as about Paganini. For his contemporaries, he seemed like a mystery, a phenomenon. Some considered him a genius, others a charlatan; his name was fanned by legend during his lifetime.
He gave birth to a whole trend in the romantic art of the first half of the 19th century; his instrumental innovations served as an example for Berlioz and Liszt in the reform of orchestral and piano music; his caprices were admired by Schumann, who created their piano transcriptions; he had a significant influence on the work of Rossini, Meyerbeer, Chopin, Liszt; Piano variations on the theme of his 24th caprice belong to Brahms, and in our century Rhapsody on the theme of the same caprice was written by Rakhmanov. For more than 100 years, Paganini's works have not left the concert stage, captivating with bright instrumentalism, lively images, expressiveness and enduring freshness of melodies. Meanwhile, even today one can hear the opinion that Paganini is great only as a performer and that his creativity is interesting only for virtuosity. His fate in this respect is similar to that of Liszt, whose talent as a composer was also unrecognized by many for many years. But the fame and immortality of Paganini testify that he was an outstanding composer.
The beginning of a great friendship between Niccolo and the Marquis Di Negro, who was passionately interested in art, dates back to 1796. In his salon in 1796, R. Kreutzer heard Paganini and predicted a brilliant future for him. Together with the Marquis and his father, Paganini made his first concert tour of the cities of Italy. In Parma he wanted to become a student of the famous Alessandro Rolla. However, upon hearing him play, Rolla stated that he had nothing to do with him. In Parma, Niccolo took composition lessons from Gasparo Giretti and followed the advice of Ferdinand Faer. During these studies, he composed many instrumental pieces and two violin concertos.
By 1801, Paganini's relationship with his father was becoming strained. Taking advantage of the invitation to concerts in Lucca, he leaves there with his older brother Carlo and ruins the house. A new period of his life begins. After Lucca, he gives concerts in Pisa, Milan, Parma, Livorno. The fame of the extraordinary virtuoso quickly spreads across Italy. His play and personality seem fantastic, his art is incomprehensible, new, original. Little by little, a tangle of legends began to form around Paganini, a halo of mystery was created. In Livorno, his success was so great that one of his admirers presented him with a gift of a wonderful violin - Guarneri del Gesu, with which Paganini did not part until the end of his days.
Escaping from the care of his father, he leads a reckless life, playing fabulous sums of money earned by concerts at cards.
In 1802, his first love comes to him, the name of this woman is not known. At Eauville in Tuscany, Paganini spent three years farming and playing guitar; wrote quartets for bows and guitars, guitar pieces, and many of the effects he introduced into violin playing were imitations of guitar sounds.
In 1805, he suddenly appeared in Lucca. By this time, Napoleon finally cast off the guise of revolution and established monarchies in the place of the former Italian republics. He gave Lucca to his sister Elsa Baciocchi, who received the title of princess. Paganini was invited to her court as chamber musician and bandmaster. Paganini agreed, attracted not only by the musical atmosphere of the court, but also by the charming princess with whom he began an affair. However, musically, he was associated with the prince. In letters 1809-1810, Boucher de Pertis announces: "Prince Baccioki is a passionate violin lover, and we play quartets. Genoese, by the name of Paganini, holds the first violin and plays the guitar."
His letters contain an interesting description of Paganini's play; Calling him self-taught, Bouchede Perty adds: “Nobody plays like that. But he spoils the game with pantalonads, unworthy art and his wonderful talent; I have heard him improvise a cadence in Viotti's Concerto in which he imitated a donkey, dog, rooster and other animals. Sometimes, when he starts a piece, he breaks the string. It would seem that he should stop, but he continues playing on three strings. Where it is great is in arpeggios, double notes and pizzicato, which is played with the left hand, without upsetting the violin. Then he combines all the techniques of the game, and it dizzy ... "
As we can see, by this time all the playing techniques and virtuoso effects characteristic of Paganini had already developed, with which he subsequently surprised the world.
In Lucca, his musical duties were wide - he performed solo, played in quartets, and conducted opera performances. However, a long stay in one place is not in the nature of Paganini, and already from 1809, that is, not yet completely breaking off from the service, he again began to lead the life of an itinerant concert performer, traveling around Italy. In the spring of 1813, he settled in Milan and plunged headlong into the artistic life of the capital of northern Italy, full of bitter disputes between romantics and classicists. Here he becomes close to famous poets, musicians, meets Stendhal.
Glory to Paganini, his fantastic art by this time already went beyond the borders of Italy. Published 24 caprices for solo violin evoke bewilderment in Paris by Bayo, Beriot, Abeneck. Nobody believes they can be played. The famous French violin virtuoso Lafon is going to Milan to compete with Paganini. March 7, 1816 at the Teatro alla Scala, their competition took place, in which Lafon suffered a complete defeat. But I. Yampolsky is absolutely right when he writes: “In the historical perspective of time, it is clear that Lafon and Paganini were incommensurable phenomena, that between Paganini, who, according to Heine,“ horror of depth ", and the elegant Lafon, this aristocrat among French violinists, as well as between Liszt and Thalberg, there could be no real rivalry."
Romanticism is a multifaceted phenomenon with different, sometimes aesthetically opposite tendencies. early XIX century, when romanticism was just emerging, it gave rise to mixed currents, fancifully combining features of classical and romantic arts. Lafon was a violinist, in the style of which the principles of the old French classical violin school Viotti, Bayo, Kreutzer underwent a significant transformation of the romantic order in his playing -salon poetry and fragile, graceful virtuosity, which gradually became one of the characteristic features of the Franco-Belgian violin and cello schools of the first half of the 19th century. Representatives of this school differed sharply from the temperamental, violent romanticist Paganini.
But Paganini did not accept such a romantic as L. Spohr, who first met a genius Italian in 1816 in Venice. Spurs heard Paganini's play later, already in his homeland, and sharply condemned, but already from the tales he had heard in Italy, the effects for which the Genoese was famous seemed to him charlatan.
“That which captivates the Italian public in his play and enslaves it,” Spurs writes in his autobiography, “turns out to be nothing more than a series of“ delights ”that our compatriot Scheller admired our grandmothers for many years before him. These are artificial harmonics, variations on one string ... a well-known kind of pizzicatole hand and many sounds of the bassoon, the voice of an old woman, and other tricks that contradict the nature of the instrument. "
VV Venice Paganini creates one of his most famous works - "The Carnival of Venice", which gives rise to a lot of imitations. “Carnival” is an encyclopedia of his virtuosity and variation technique. It is also notable for the irony of motley, bright images, fresh folk color. It was this work that became a kind of sign of the virtuoso romantic art of Paganini's followers. In Venice, there was a meeting between Paganini and Byron, which left a deep mark on the soul of the violinist.
In 1818 the famous Polish violinist K. Lipiński, attracted by the glory of Paganini, came to Italy. Initially, like Lafon, he intended to compete with his Italian counterpart, but upon hearing Paganini's play, he abandoned this idea. Paganini and Lipinski developed a friendship that continued until the Italian arrived in Warsaw. Lipiński was insanely passionate about the art of Paganini and strove to approach his style in his playing. But their individualities were no less different than those of Paganini and Lafan, although in a different way. The noble, strict masculinity characteristic of Lipiński's art connected it with classicism and became an insurmountable barrier between him and Paganini.
In 1818 Paganini struck up a friendship with Rossini. The composer adored the violinist, and Paganini responded in kind. It is known. That the violinist wrote a series of fantasies on arias from Rossini's operas. In 1819, Paganini met in Rome with the famous French painter Ingres; the memory of this meeting remained a pencil portrait of the violinist.
Intense concert activity, a stormy life lead Paganini to a serious illness, which is accompanied by mental depression. He stopped giving concerts and until 1824 lived in isolation, alone. Only in April 1824 he came out of the crisis and began to act. Arriving in Genoa, he spends a whole winter in it and enthusiastically gives lessons to the 7-year-old prodigy Camillo Sivori. Under his leadership, Sivorie makes rapid progress. Classes with the boy lasted for 7 months, but until the end of his days Paganini called Sivori his only student.
The 20s are fraught with difficult personal experiences for Paganini. Fond of nature, he devoted a lot of time to women. Biographies dedicated to him are full of descriptions of his countless love affairs. The names of Princess Eliza Bachocchi, as well as another sister of Napoleon - Paola Borghese, a certain Signora Dida, Eleonora Quilici, Baroness Helena Daubenec make up only a small part of the Egodonjuan list. However, on the basis of familiarization with Paganini's letters, Yampolsky comes to the conclusion that by nature he was by no means Don Juan and Casanova, but always dreamed of true love calm family life.
If before 1828 Paganini's activities developed exclusively within Italy, then after leaving it, he never came here in subsequent years. He returned to his native country only at the end of his life as a sick, broken person.
After Vienna, Paganini gave concerts in German cities. In Dusseldorf, fate brought him together with one of the most wonderful women who met on his life path- Baroness Helena von Daubeneck. Their meeting was tragic. Love for Paganini broke her whole life. It is difficult to say what made Paganini leave Dobenek. Despite the break with Paganini, the baroness achieved a divorce from her husband and left for Paris. After the death of Paganini, she converted to Catholicism and tonsured a nun at the Benedictine monastery in Switzerland.
In the biography of the great violinist, a lot is unclear, despite the close attention to his life. Was he a carbonarian? To what extent was he associated with the Italian revolutionary movement?
Most biographers consider Paganini's participation in the revolutionary movement indisputable, based on the fact of his connection with a number of Italian revolutionaries.
Concert tours in Austria, Germany and France were accompanied by unprecedented triumphs. The most prominent musicians in the world are delighted with Paganini. In Vienna, he finally parted with Bianca and went to Prague, where he unexpectedly met a cold welcome; followed by Dresden and Berlin. In Berlin, he again defeats the public. But along with fame, illegends, filthy fictions crawl behind him. They say that he is a criminal, that on his conscience the murder of his beloved. The respectable audience is terrified, but still obeys him magic game... He captivates everyone with the power of passion, dramatic performance, endless variety of colors, "... his instrument truly speaks, groans, imitates a thunderstorm, the silence of the night, birds descending from heaven, but not flying up to heaven, poetry is in everything ...".
On April 11, 1830, R. Schumann listened to him in Frankfurt am Main and, shocked, wrote in his diary: “Isn't this delight! Under his hands, the driest exercises are fiery, like the prophecies of the Pythia. " From the concerts of this period, mention should be made of the performance in Kassel, where Spohr finally heard him, and in Hamburg, where Heine was present at his concert. Later the great poet captured the image of Paganini in his wonderful creation "Florentine Nights".
In February 1831 Paganini finally went to Paris. The French capital has just survived the revolution and the cholera epidemic. “But even the horror caused by this deadly scourge could not restrain a rush of curiosity, and then - delight, throwing the crowd at the feet of Paganini,” writes Berlioz.
Paris of the 30s is the arena of fierce battles between representatives of classicism and romanticism. Plays by V. Hugo, A. Dumas the Father, short stories by P. Merimee, and in music the program symphonism of G. Berlioz; on the stage of opera houses - "Robert the Devil" by Meyerbeer, "The Magic Shooter" by Weber, "Faust" by Spur - such is the romantic wave that has choked the life of art. At this moment, Paganini appears. Naturally, his playing captivates, amazes the electrified listeners. It contains everything that was so characteristic of romanticism - the fiery struggle of passions, vivid oratorical pathos, contrasts of the sublime and low, programmatic and brilliant, incomprehensible virtuosity. The romantic is the personality of the artist, surrounded by an aura of mystery, fantasy, demonism. Liszt, listening to him at the first concert, is shocked: he admits that new, hitherto unknown horizons have opened up for him. In his fantasy on the theme of Paganini's Campanella (1832), Liszt follows his path and gives the piano technique a colorfulness, brilliance, virtuosity, unfamiliar to the old classical art. From here begins the formation of his bravura instrumentalism, which subsequently gave rise to Hungarian rhapsodies, concerts-poems. And the eternal mephisto-theme of Liszt, in essence, echoes the "devilish" motives of Paganini's art.
Balzac admires Paganini, he is interested in Goethe, and French romantics are delighted with him. For the philosophy of romanticism, cultural music, which was recognized as the highest spiritual form of art, was especially characteristic. Here their ideal was presented, as it were, in a materialized form. They write articles about Paganini, invent legends, tell anecdotes; fiction in the literature about the great violinist is closely intertwined with the truth. But who needs the truth when only the extraordinary is expected from Paganin? In the end, he flees from Paris to England, but from here, after the first performance, the same thing begins.
In Paris, for refusing to play at a charity concert in favor of the Italian revolutionaries, and then in London for trying to set double ticket prices, Paganini is accused of hoarding, greed, and the desire for profit. Of course, he had the features of money-grubbing, although not to the extent that he was attributed. His responsiveness is evidenced by at least the famous case of Berlioz, to whom, knowing about the composer's plight, Paganini presented 20,000 francs.
Until the age of 52, Paganini leads a wandering life, traveling around the cities of Europe. He works with frantic intensity, paying the price for the state of his millions obtained with such difficulty with his health. At the age of 52, he was forced to stop performing. Having bought himself a luxurious estate near Parma, bearing the name "Villa Gaiona", in the fall of 1834 he moved there.
In 1835, Paganini accepted an invitation from Princess Maria Luisa of Parma to take the post of director and conductor of her court theater and orchestra. Yampolsky's monograph provides interesting information about his attempt to reform the orchestra and organize a new orchestral performance. He proposes to increase the number of orchestra members to fifty people, selecting them by competition; to differentiate the functions of the conductor and the cavesinist or the first violinist and accompanist. These were new requirements at the time. His offers were rejected and he resigned. During a short period of work with the orchestra, he managed to significantly improve the skill of this group.
In 1837 the last concerts of Paganini took place in Turin. His health is finally undermined. He goes to Marseille, Nice; in Genoa, he draws up a will, according to which he transfers all his enormous fortune (1.7 million francs, except for property, estate and collection of musical instruments) to his son Achilles.
Paganini leaves for the south of France. He dreams of improving his health. During these years, he maintains close relations only with Berlioz, and with a close circle of music lovers, which grouped around him in Marseilles. He himself plays music, especially playing Beethoven's quartets with pleasure.
Calculations on the healing properties of the south of France did not come true. In October 1839, Paganini arrived in Genoa, but a severe nervous fit forced him to leave the city. Transferred to Nice, he lay in bed almost all the days. In addition to physical suffering, moral suffering was also added - the process associated with the casino was still dragging on. In addition, the Catholic Church again tried to return him to its fold. However, the dying artist steadfastly refused to partake of the sacrament. He died on May 27, 1840 at the age of 58.
The famous Guarneri del Gesu Paganini violin is kept in a museum in Genoa. Once a year, the violin window is opened and the most outstanding violinist in Italy at that time plays on it. In 1957, this honor was given to David Oistakh, and in 1963 - the pupil of the Leningrad Conservatory, the Bulgarian violinist Emil Kamillarov, who won the Paganini International Competition.
Paganini is immortal. The rebellious spirit lives in his creations, which are still attracted by the inexplicable charm of generous melodies, the luxury of instrumental colors, and the poetry of images.
At the beginning of the XX century. Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin (1871 / 72-1915) - an outstanding Russian composer, pianist, teacher - creates an original symphonic work "Prometheus" ("Poem of Fire"). It involves the use of colored light when performing music. It was new and different.
The poem is based on ancient greek myth about Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to people.
In Greek, the word "prometheus" means "seer", "looking ahead." The image of Prometheus is one of the eternal themes of art. Symphony No. 5 by L. Beethoven was associated with the myth of Prometheus, and the finale of Symphony No. 3 ("Heroic") grew directly from the music, which was originally conceived as the music of the ballet "Prometheus".
A. Scriabin was inspired by two ideas: the expression of energy, movement, life, creativity and the desire to "sing a hymn to the bold will of man." The composer defined the content of the poem as follows: “Prometheus is a symbol, in different forms found in all ancient teachings. This is the active energy of the Universe, the creative principle, it is fire, light, life, struggle, effort, thought. " It is not by chance that the musical themes of the poem received figurative characteristics: "the theme of creative aspirations", "the theme of will", "the theme of reason", "the theme of pleasure", etc.
In the introduction (introduction), the mysterious narrative symbolizes the dark, blue-purple-gray chaos. Against the background of "Promethean harmony" a melody enters - a symbol of the daring dream of Prometheus himself. The "living breath" of the cosmic element cuts through the solo of the trumpet.
The main theme of the exposition is indicated by the composer in the light line as bright blue.
Scriabin associated psychologically intense development with red. The reprise is the culmination of the poem with its organ and bell sonorities. Here Scriabin assumed the "illumination" of the entire hall with dazzling rays of white light. The unexpectedly abrupt conclusion of the poem gives the impression of the suddenly extinguished flame of a grandiose cosmic fire. The heroic symphony of Prometheus was the herald of social storms at the beginning of the 20th century. During Scriabin's lifetime, it was not possible to realize a lighting project in which the composer dreamed of embodying moving lines and forms, huge "pillars of fire", "fluid architecture". However, the idea of visible music turned out to be extremely consonant with the artists of the Russian avant-garde, gave impetus to experiments with moving abstract painting and interesting inventions. Color-light installations, the "Tsvetomuzyka" apparatus, an optical sound synthesizer, which was named in honor of Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin - ANS, appeared. All these directions were later embodied in modern electronic music (E. Artemiev, A. Rybnikov, J.-M. Jarre and others).
Listen to Scriabin's symphonic poem "Prometheus", draw your own color composition of this work.
What is the role of the inclusion in the reprise of the chorus, which performs the "theme of creative aspirations", and in the culmination - the "theme of Prometheus"?
Imagine yourself in the role of a conductor and convey with expressive gestures the change of musical images in the reprise of the poem.
What genres of musical art helped the composer to create the image of Prometheus (choose from the proposed ones and give reasons for your opinion): program symphony, concert for piano and orchestra, cantata?
Compare the statements of the two composers. What unites them?
Beethoven: “My willingness to serve poor suffering humanity with my art has never, since childhood, needed any reward other than inner satisfaction.”
Scriabin: “I am going to tell people that they are strong and mighty. To become an optimist ... you have to experience despair and defeat it. "
Artistic and creative task
Complete an independent work on the topic "Images of the sun, fire inliterature ,
painting and music ”(K. Balmont, N. Roerich, K. Yuon, I. Stravinsky, M. de Falla, N. Paganini, etc.).
Booker Igor 07/09/2019 at 23:40
The most legendary violinist in the history of European music is Niccolo Paganini. The musical recordings of this composer and performer do not exist, but the more acutely the listener realizes that there will never be a second such Paganini. Throughout the short life of the maestro, he was accompanied by love scandals. Was there a love for a woman in Paganini's life that surpassed his love for music?
Niccolò Paganini was born on October 27, 1782 in Genoa. However, Niccolò himself preferred to reduce himself two years, claiming that he was born in 1784. And he signed in different ways: Niccolò, or Nicolò, and sometimes - Nicolà. With his first concert, Paganini performed as a thirteen-year-old teenager. Gradually a handsome boy, who conquered the Genoese public on July 31, 1795, turned into an awkward youth with nervous gestures. The result is the "ugly duckling" vice versa. Over the years, his face has acquired a deathly pallor, sunken cheeks crossed by premature deep wrinkles. Feverishly shining eyes were deeply sunken, and thin skin responded painfully to any change in the weather: in summer Niccolo was drenched in sweat, and in winter he was covered with sweat. His bony figure with long arms and legs dangled in his clothes like a wooden puppet.
"Constant exercises on the instrument could not but cause some curvature of the torso: the chest, which is rather narrow and round, according to Dr. Bennati, has sunken in the upper part, and the left side, because the musician kept the violin here all the time, has become wider than the right; percussion was heard better on the right side− the result of a pleural inflammation of the lungs transferred to Parma,− the biographer of Paganini writes the Italian Maria Tibaldi-Chiesa(Maria Tibaldi-Chiesa). - The left shoulder rose much higher than the right one, and when the violinist lowered his arms, one turned out to be much longer than the other. "
With such an appearance, the most incredible rumors circulated about the ardent Italian during his lifetime. They invented a story, as if the musician was imprisoned for the murder of his wife or mistress. There were rumors that only one, fourth, string remained on his violin, and he learned to play it alone. And as a string, he uses the veins of a murdered woman! Since Paganini was limping on his left leg, it was rumored that he had been sitting on a chain for a long time. In fact, the not yet experienced young musician was a typical Genoese who recklessly gave himself up to his passion: whether it was playing cards or flirting with pretty girls. Fortunately, he was able to recover from the card game in time. What can not be said about Paganini's love affairs.
Very little is known about Paganini's first passion. Her name and the place of their meetings Niccolo did not even tell his friend. In the prime of his youth, Paganini retired to the Tuscan estate of a certain noble lady who played the guitar and conveyed to Niccolo her love for this instrument. For three years, Paganini wrote 12 sonatas for guitar and violin, which constitute the second and third of his opuses. As if waking up from the spell of his Circe, Niccolo fled to Genoa at the end of 1804 to take up the violin again. Love for a mysterious Tuscan girlfriend, and through her, for the guitar helped the musician. A different arrangement of the strings than on the violin made Paganini's fingers surprisingly flexible. Having become a virtuoso, the musician ceased to be interested in the guitar and only occasionally wrote music for it. But such an affection as for this noble lady, who was probably older than him, Paganini never felt for any woman. Ahead of him was the adventurous life of a wandering musician and loneliness ...
Women also appeared in it. Many years later, Paganini will tell his son Achilla that he had an affair with Napoleon's older sister, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany Elisa Bonaparte, who was at that time the Empress of Lucca and Piombino. Eliza awarded the violinist the title of "court virtuoso" and appointed the captain of the personal guard. Putting on a magnificent uniform, Paganini received, in accordance with palace etiquette, the right to appear at ceremonial receptions. Connection with ugly, but smart woman, moreover, the sister of the French emperor himself, amused Niccola's vanity. The violinist aroused the jealousy of Eliza, who was five years older than Paganini, by chasing skirts.
Once Paganini made a bet. He undertook to conduct the whole opera with the help of a violin, on which there will be only two strings - the third and the fourth. He won the bet, the audience went berserk, and Eliza invited the musician who had "done the impossible on two strings" to play on one string. On August 15, the birthday of the Emperor of France, he performed a sonata for the fourth string called Napoleon. And again a resounding success. But Paganini was already bored by the success with "his" ladies.
Once passing by a house, he noticed a pretty face in the window. A certain barber volunteered to help the maestro arrange a love meeting. After the concert, the impatient lover on the wings of love rushed to the appointed place. A girl stood at the open window, looking at the moon. Seeing Paganini, she began to scream. Then the musician jumped onto the low windowsill and jumped down. Later, Niccolo found out that that girl had lost her mind because of unrequited love, and at night she looked at the moon all the time, hoping that her unfaithful lover would fly from there. The bastard hoped to deceive the mentally ill, but she did not mistake the genius of music for her boyfriend.
After three years at Eliza's court, Paganini asked her permission to go on vacation. He began his wanderings in the cities of Italy.
In 1808, in Turin, Niccolò met the beloved sister of the emperor, the charming 28-year-old Pauline Bonaparte. Like her sister, she was also older than him, but only by two years. Polina received the affectionate nickname Red Rose from the Turin people, in contrast to the White Rose - Eliza. Another luxurious flower appeared in Paganini's bouquet. From an early age, the beauty was rather windy and Napoleon hurried to marry her. After the death of her husband, General Leclerc, Pauline married Prince Camillo Borghese, an attractive man who did not meet the requirements of a temperamental Corsican and, moreover, stupid. The husband annoyed Polina so much that he caused bouts of neurasthenia. Lovers of sensual pleasures, Polina and Niccolo, had a good time in Turin and in the Stupinigi castle. Their passionate natures quickly ignited and cooled just as quickly. When the musician had a severe stomach upset, Polina found a replacement for him.
Rumors about "long years in prison", in which Paganini was allegedly imprisoned, are pure fiction, but based on real events. In September 1814, the violinist gave concerts in Genoa, where 20-year-old Angelina Cavannah threw herself into his arms. It was not love, but a lustful connection and it is worth mentioning it in a nutshell in order to debunk one of the myths associated with the name of Niccolo Paganini. Despite the name Angelina, which means "angel" in Italian, Mrs. Cavannah turned out to be a slut who was kicked out of the house by her own father for debauchery. Having become the violinist's mistress, Angelina soon became pregnant. The biographer of maestro Tibaldi-Chiesa points out that this does not yet prove Paganini's paternity, since the girl "continued to meet with other men." Niccolò took her with him to Parma, and in the spring Angelina's father returned with her to Genoa, and on May 6, 1815, Paganini was arrested on charges of kidnapping and violence against his daughter. The musician stayed in prison until May 15. Five days later, Paganini, in turn, sued the tailor Cavannah to force him to pay compensation. The baby died in June 1815. The trial ended on November 14, 1816 with a decision not in favor of the violinist, who was ordered to pay three thousand lire to Angelina Cavannah. A few months before the court ruling, Angelina married a man named ... Paganini. True, he was not a musician and a relative of a violinist. The namesake's name was Giovanni Batista.
This gloomy-looking man, a gambler and a rowdy, was completely transformed by picking up a violin. Even those who thought that his fame as the best violinist in the world was inflated, had to come to terms when they happened to hear him play. For people who did not understand music, he arranged real performances with onomatopoeia - "humming", "humming" and "talking" with strings ...
The future genius was born in the family of a small merchant in Genoa. His father tried unsuccessfully to teach music to his eldest son, Carlo. But when Niccolo grew up, his father abandoned his studies with Carlo, which he was undoubtedly happy about. How to raise a genius and virtuoso? You can captivate and entertain a gifted child, as Mozart's father did. Or you can lock him in the closet until he learns a particularly difficult sketch.
It was in this atmosphere that Niccolo was raised. The boy had practically no childhood, all his days were spent in endless exhausting music lessons. From birth, he had an amazingly delicate ear, he immersed himself in the world of sounds and tried to repeat it with the help of guitar, mandolin and violin.
Still from the film "Niccolo Paganini" (1982).
The first concert of Niccolo Paganini took place at the age of twelve. Concert of a child prodigy performing his variations famous works shocked the audience. The boy had noble patrons. Giancarlo de Negro, a merchant and music lover, even provided him with the opportunity to continue his studies with the cellist Giretti. The teacher forced the talented student to compose melodies without an instrument, to hear music in his head.
After completing his studies, Niccolo became more and more famous. He started making good money by giving concerts all over Italy. The musician promised to reveal the secret of his skill when he finished his career, and this only fueled the interest of the public.
Everything about him seemed mysterious. His appearance is deadly pale skin, sunken eyes, a protruding hook nose and incredibly long fingers, twitching movements of a skinny figure. His violin playing was from God or from the devil, but it was definitely superhumanly good.
His lifestyle and gambling addiction caused him to often run aground. And his detached, sublime state, when he stood on the stage, merging with the instrument together.
Traveling and performing, the maestro composed music. At that time (1801-1804) he lived in Tuscany and, walking along the sunlit streets, composed his famous caprices for violin. For some time (1805-1808) Niccolò even became a court musician, but then he returned to concerts again.
His peculiar, light and relaxed manner of performance and masterly possession of the instrument soon made him the most popular violinist in Italy. For six years (1828-1834) he gave hundreds of concerts in European capitals. Paganini evoked admiration and admiration among fellow musicians. The admiring lines of Heine, Balzac and Goethe were dedicated to him.
His career ended abruptly and tragically. Because of tuberculosis, Paganini had to return to Italy, and coughing fits prevented him from speaking. He returned to his native Genoa as a deeply sick person. Suffering terribly from severe seizures, Niccolò lived for three more years.
The musician died in Nice on May 27, 1840. The papal curia did not allow him to be buried in Italy for a long time because of his lifestyle. The embalmed body lay in the room for two months, and for another year in the basement of his house. He was reburied several times, and 36 years later Niccolo Paganini found peace in Parma.
After the death of Paganini, mankind inherited 24 caprices, many variations on opera and ballet themes, six concertos for violin and orchestra, sonatas, sonatas for violin and guitar, variations and vocal compositions.
By the way, not long before his death, Paganini revealed his secret of excellent violin skills. It consists in complete spiritual merging with the instrument. You have to look and feel the world through an instrument, store memories in the neck, and become strings and bow yourself. It seems that everything is simple, but not every professional musician will agree to sacrifice his life and personality to music.
Below are amazing facts from the biography of the great maestro:
1. The composer was born in a large family(was the third child out of six); his father first worked as a loader, and later opened a shop in the port. However, the census of Genoa indicated that Antonio Paganini was a "mandolin holder" - so Napoleon himself ordered.
2. From the age of 5, his father began to teach the boy to play the mandolin, and from 6 - the violin. If you believe the researchers of the life of Paganini (Tibaldi-Chiesa in the series "The Lives of Remarkable People"), the musician later recalled: when he did not show due diligence, his father punished him - later this was reflected in the violinist's poor health.
3. The musician gave the first public concert (or, as they said, the academy) on July 31, 1795 at the Teatro Sant'Agostino in Genoa - the proceeds went to the boy (and Niccolò turned 12 that year) to go to Parma - to study with Alessandro Rolla (famous violinist and teacher).
When the Paganini family (father and son) came to Alessandro Roll, he refused to accept them, because he was sick. But next to the teacher's room lay a violin and sheet music of the composition that had just been written yesterday.
Then Niccolo took the instrument and immediately played the piece - the surprised teacher, hearing Paganini's performance, went out to the guests and said that he could no longer teach the boy anything - he himself can do everything.
4. At concerts, Paganini put on a real show. This made such a strong impression on the public that some fainted in the hall. He thought over every issue and exit to the smallest detail.
Everything was rehearsed: from a repertoire consisting exclusively of his own compositions to spectacular tricks like a broken string, a violin out of tune and "hello from the village" - imitating the sounds of animals.
Paganini learned to imitate the guitar, flute, trumpets and horns and could replace the orchestra. The audience in love called him "The Southern Sorcerer".
"All the best and highest in the world is associated with Christianity. The best musicians of our century write church hymns. There is not a single classical composer who has not written oratorios and masses.
Mozart's Requiem, Bach's oratorios, Handel's masses testify to the fact that God does not leave Europe and that our entire culture is built on the principles of Christian love and mercy.
But then a violinist appeared and turned off this road. With all his behavior, insatiable greed, the intoxicating poison of earthly temptations, Paganini sows alarm on our planet and puts people into the power of hell. Paganini kills the baby Christ".
6. Niccolo Paganini was a Freemason. He wrote a Masonic hymn and sang it in the lodge of the Grand Orient of Italy; the documents of the society also confirm his belonging to the Freemasons.
7. The first (and perhaps the strongest) love of the composer was a noble lady, whose name he always hid and with whom he lived for 3 years in her estate in Tuscany. In those years, he discovered the guitar and wrote 12 sonatas for it and the violin, and also became addicted to cards.
Eliza Bonaparte. Portrait by Marie-Guillain Benoit, 1805
Niccolo Paganini said that he had a relationship with Eliza Bonaparte, Napoleon's older sister. The musician was the captain of her personal guard and had the title of “court virtuoso”: he gave concerts and directed performances.
8. Paganini was a favorite not only of the masses, but also of titled persons. Every European monarch considered it his duty to invite him for a personal speech.
Of course, he received incredible fees, but due to incontinence in gambling, he often found himself in situations where he did not have enough money for food. He had to repeatedly lay his violin and ask for help from friends. With the birth of his son, he became calmer and was able to accumulate a fortune by old age.
The musician toured extensively in Europe and everywhere his concerts were incredibly popular. After his death in 1840, he left a fortune of several million francs.
9. The maestro preferred not to write down his works on paper in order to remain the only performer (and those who could perform Paganini's melodies, even with notes, were negligible). Imagine the surprise of the master who heard his own variations performed by the violinist and composer Heinrich Ernst! Is it possible that the variations were chosen by ear?
When Ernst came to visit Paganini, he hid the manuscript under his pillow. To the surprised musician, he said that after his performance, one should beware not only of his ears, but also of his eyes.
10. Paganini could perform works even if one or several strings were missing on the violin (for example, when a string broke during his concert, he continued to play without interruption). And on the occasion of the Emperor's birthday, the maestro wrote the Napoleon sonata for one string (G).
11. For some, Paganini was an undoubted genius, for others - a convenient victim for attacks. Mysterious "well-wishers" sent letters to his parents with descriptions of revelry and debauchery, in which their son was allegedly mired. Rumors swirled around him, one more surprising than the other.
For example, only the lazy did not know that Niccolo Paganini honed his skills not with exhausting activities in childhood and adolescence, but entertained himself with music, sitting in prison. This legend turned out to be so tenacious that it even found its reflection in Stendhal's novel.
12. Newspapers often printed reports about the death of Paganini. It all started with an accidental mistake, but the journalists got a taste - after all, newspapers with a refutation sold out in double and triple circulation, and the popularity of the violinist only grew because of this.
When Paganini died in Nice, the newspapers routinely printed his obituary with the postscript: "We hope that we will publish a refutation soon, as usual."
Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique. “Violinist Niccolo Paganini”.
13. In 1893, the coffin with the maestro was dug up again, because people allegedly heard strange sounds coming from under the ground. In the presence of Paganini's grandson, Czech violinist Frantisek Ondřicek, the rotten coffin was opened. Legend has it that the musician's body had decayed by that time, but his face and head were practically unharmed.
Of course, after that, for more than a decade, the most incredible rumors and gossip circulated in Italy. In 1896, the coffin with the remains of Paganini was dug again and reburied in another cemetery in Parma.
14. The virtuoso bequeathed his favorite Guarneri violin hometown, Genoa (the maestro did not want anyone to play it after his death). Later the instrument was named "Paganini's Widow". Also in the collection of virtuoso violins were works by Stradivari and Amati.
Compiling stuff - FoxIt is difficult to talk about life, my dear reader, but it is tempting. A man was born, accustomed to the environment that surrounds him, cradles him, which he absorbs with all fibers. Born free from all bonds, he is happy. But everything flows, everything changes. Living conditions have changed, and the person has also changed, which means he has adapted.
People are born with different characters and their fates are different, and they each go their own way through life. If a person is talented, versatile, has his own opinion on everything, he has his own life goal, and he strives to achieve this goal. If a person simply lives, agrees with the conditions in which he lives, he does not care about anything, maybe it will somehow stir up like a blade of grass from the wind, the wind will fly away, and again quietly. Such people, obedient, do not bring harm to the country, they are calm. But sometimes they become victims of enslavement by the authorities, by the church.
Thinking philosophically about life, I gradually come to an exciting topic: about the life of the great violinist Niccolo Paganini. About whom the Russian, Soviet writer, novelist Anatoly Vinogradov (1888-1946), who had thoroughly studied the bibliographic historical material about the violinist Niccolo Paganini, told me about, and he helped me to understand this story, with the hope that it will be interesting for you, my reader, remember the history, if you have forgotten a little, the Renaissance. A tragic fate draws attention to the discussion of different human destinies, especially if a person's talent enriches the cultural heritage of an era, country, state.
To understand the life of the great violinist, violin virtuoso, one must penetrate deep into medieval feudalism of the 11th century. Italy at this time felt the oppression of Catholicism, like the slavery of piety. Speculating on the ignorance and gullibility of the people, Catholic churchmen pursued their own selfish mercantile goals. The humanists of that time emphasized: the minister of the church is also a person who has all natural rights, and if he secretly achieves the exercise of these rights, then he turns into a hypocrite. The same spirit of the powerless Middle Ages, the spirit of feudalism, remained in Genoa when Niccolo Paganini was born.
Niccolo Paganini
On a rainy, windy night, when waves of the surf flapped like cannon shots at both Genoese breakwaters, Niccolo Paganini was born to a poor Italian family on October 27, 1782 in Genoa. According to legend, it was said - the child screamed all night, the child screamed in the morning. He cried, as if complaining about the arbitrariness of his parents who called him to life on this terrible night.
Poverty flourished in the poor shelter where Niccolo spent his childhood. In the crowd of tattered children running out of this shelter to launch paper and wooden boats in puddles or rushing into street battles with din and shouting, one could notice a small monkey with a prominent jaw, a wide forehead, curly black hair and a very long nose. Huge agate eyes stood out strangely on the ugly face. The unusually beautiful eyes struck with their inadequacy to the whole appearance of a long-armed, bow-legged child with huge feet, with long fingers on long hands. When those eyes lit up with curiosity, the face straightened out and suddenly lost its ugliness. And even Nicolla's father, Antonio, would say: "wow, what a freak you are!"
My father played the "Cramaniola" guitar well. He wanted to quickly teach his son to play musical instruments. Niccolò made his first attempts at playing the lute and timidly tried to repeat after him. Then the father brought his son an old violin and announced: "Niccolo, you will learn to play the violin. I will make a miracle out of you, you will earn money." With these thoughts, he remained true to himself for life. The first violin lesson began. The little boy could hardly understand his father. The father was annoyed and responded with a slap in the head for every mistake his son made. Then he got used to a long ruler and began to use it when his son made a mistake. Antonio beat his son on the wrist with light almost imperceptible blows until he bruised. Or put him in a closet until he played the first exercise without mistakes. With his tough approach to his son, Antono Paganini repulsed all desire to continue teaching with his father. Niccolo ran away from home while his father was not at home. He ran along the slopes of the mountains, begging old women for a piece of sheep's cheese or a cup of goat's milk. Tired, scratched by stones, he climbed into the most remote places where his father could not find him. He fell asleep on the branches of trees, warmed by the rays of the sun, cursing the violin, which turned into an instrument of torture for him.
But nothing could break the persistent old Paganini. He said to Niccolo more than once: "I will make a miracle out of you, you damned monkey! You are exactly sold to the devil - so you either die or provide my old age. place, after the departure of the French vagabonds. You will cause delight and tenderness of rich people, which will make them forget their stinginess. "
Niccolo's mother, with eternal fear for her son, that the beating of her father would bring the child to the grave, with a constant desire to save an extra piece for her son, forced her to hide her suffering. But one day, a faint broke her. She called her son and spoke in a weak voice -
-Boy, at night the angel, the same one we saw in the holy picture in the cathedral, told me that you will be the first violinist in the world. No wonder we came to this wonderful German city. The best violin makers in the city are Amati, Guarneri and Stradivari. Promise me never to part with the violin. "The boy promised his mother not to part with the violin.
On the advice of his uncle, to whom they came, Niccolo was visited by Paolo Stradivari, who advised him to study with Count Cozio.
Count Cozio
Count Cozio's first question was for Niccolo: “What are you going to play on, boy?
“What will signor count give,” Niccolò replied.
Cosio went up to little Paganini, brushed his hair from his forehead, looked attentively at his eyebrows, forehead, eyes and said:
- I am ninety-seven years old, eighty of which I spent collecting treasures - violins. The house you are in keeps the first in the world
collection of musical instruments. For their sake, the earth exists, for their sake, the creator of the universe put in man an insane love for transforming a bad life into beautiful sounds. Count Cozio took a golden antique violin from the wall and handed it to the boy, and carefully handed him the bow. The little violinist began to play. Then Cosio raised Nikollo's hands high, brought them to his weak eyes:
“Every finger you have is like a duck nose. Ugliness, and you yourself are ugly. And these fingers are best for playing. You have good hearing.
As the days passed, old Cosio told little Paganini the story of the violin. Soon, the little violinist learned to distinguish between the breeds of violins.
Antonio Paganini
And at home, at home, the same thing. A father, eager to earn money on his son, once says to his wife:
- Count Cozio says that nothing will come of the boy if he does not immediately take lessons from Signor Rolla. But you know how expensive Rolla takes for lessons. I think that it is better not to teach the boy for money at all, but simply to travel with him in Lombardy (Northern Italy).
Astrological, alchemical searches for the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone, which the medieval madmen associated with the dream of human happiness, of the structure of human society, old Paganini turned dreams into a search for funds for the stock exchange deception of nature, for brokerage deals with dark forces. But everything turned out to be in vain. In Genoa, lessons with the violinist Giovanni Servetto were discontinued due to lack of money.
Taking advantage of the day when Signor Antonio was to stay in court, the mother took her son to Signor Giacomo Costa. This signor was a teacher of the Genoese chapel and played first violin in all church orchestras in Genoa. After the very first lessons, Signor Costa was completely struck by the distinctness of the sound, the extraordinary receptivity of his student and his quick work. And six months later, when Paganini's mother secretly from her husband brought money for 30 lessons, Signor Costa began to figure with a satisfied smile what the ratio of this money and his proceeds from church concerts in which Paganini participated. And it was profitable on the family budget.
But soon, because of the greed of Signor Costa, Signor Antonio felt oskarbled and deceived. Things took a bad turn.
Signor Costa collected information about baptism, about his pupil's childhood and came to the conclusion that the boy's violin talent, his extraordinary musical talent, incredible musical technique for a youth cannot be explained by divine intervention. There is undoubtedly the interference of evil spirits and undoubtedly demonic influence. The curse of the midwife was the reason for the extraordinary success of little Paganini.
After the disagreement between Niccola's father and Signor Costa, there was a chance meeting between the little violinist and Signor Francesco Gnecco. The famous composer, whose operas were staged in all theaters in Northern Italy, Livorno, Naples, Venice, Milan. So he just did not believe any nonsense about the interference of evil spirits in the fate of Nikkola. This meeting played a big role in the life of the little violinist.
Signor Gnecco
A strange friendship was established between the opera composer and "the devil with the violinist", as Niccolo Signor Gnecco called it.
After studying music, Gnecco introduced the boy to the history of the enslavement of Lombardy by the Austrians. He talked about the significance of the French invasion of Italy. The French troops are driving the Austrian gendarmes, they are driving the German priests who have arrived from Vienna, and Bonaparte's proclamations bring with them liberation from religious and political oppression, and therefore - "Long live French weapons!" So little by little Niccolo delved into an adult political life... And even the word "Carbonari" - "coal miners" little Paganini heard more than once in the "shelter".
Impressed by what he heard, the little violinist made "a new variation of the Italian" Carmagnola "and added his own musical theme, that incendiary French song that he had accidentally heard from French sailors on the seashore. that a banner was raised, scarlet with the blood of the people, that the days of glory had come.
Paganini began his own life, not a boy's. It became even easier for him to bear the beatings and reproaches of his father. He had his own life plans.
Gnecco, himself a member of the Carbonary conspiratorial work, had a habit of careful and vigilant observation. During these years, Gnecco was the only one who accurately imagined the full significance of the stormy invasion, heard, seen in the life of the little violinist.
While Signor Antonio Paganini, with the whole crowd of his commercial friends and enemies, and Niccola's mother with her embittered pack of relatives, were lost in conjecture about the origin of Niccolo's early giftedness, and speculated about supernatural interference, seeing in this interference that terrible demonic, then a gracious angelic basis.
The teacher of Niccola Gnecco feared for the fate of his beloved student, whose fragility inspired him with the most serious fears. Gnecco feared that the power of this overwhelming talent would turn into a fire that would burn both the hearth and the house. When he reread the pages of the Milanese chronicle, in which the old narrator told about the Lombard peasants who deliberately mutilated their children in order to then sell them as court jesters to the Duke of Sforza.
He was also worried that church music was alien to the little violinist. When Gnecco spoke to him about the freedom of Italy, about the lively and bright work of the Carbonari, the boy's cheeks were covered with a blush of excitement.
Silence, secrecy of his son, his calmness aroused suspicion in Signor Antonio, he told the priest of the local church about this. The priest said that the little violinist is on a good track, he performs in church concerts three times a week, his performances attract a crowd of worshipers, prayers willingly respond to the collection of cups, so Niccolo Paganini with his violin can be viewed as a phenomenon pleasing to God.
At the initiative of Signor Gnecco, the boy was invited to take part in a secular music concert. Niccolo played for the first time in front of a large audience. The legend of the little violinist flew across the city, over the sea, across the entire Ligurian blue Gulf.