On the Black Cat Street of the old quarter of the Italian city of Genoa, house number 38 has been preserved. Here, under the statue of the Virgin, there is a memorial plaque: "This humble dwelling was honored: here on October 27, 1782, Niccolò Paganini, an unsurpassed master of the divine art of sounds, was born."
NO, HE IS NOT IMMEDIATE
He was baptized in the church of Croce-i-Salvatore, about which there is a priest's entry in Latin: "Today, October 28, 1782, I baptized Niccolo, son of Antonio and Teresa Paganini, née Bocciardo."
Niccolo was the third child of the mandolin seller Antonio Paganini, who had dreamed of a career as a musician since childhood. Father failed. But the son had to compensate for his defeat. From an early age, an imperious father forced Niccolo to play the violin to the point of exhaustion. He even locked the child in a dark shed, where the boy, freezing with horror, clung to the tool like a magic wand. House tyrant Antonio said to the boy: "You will be a great violinist!"
Niccolo's poor health did not stop him. From overwork, one day the son fell dead in a fit of catalepsy (a state between life and death), and for so long did not show signs of life that his parents were going to bury him. Thank God! - already in the coffin, the boy stirred. That was really happiness for the mother!
Alas, dad did not act differently at all. His despotism did not weaken. But Antonio was known as an outstanding person, had the gift of a psychic: he predicted the future, helped to find stolen goods - he called the name of the thief. His talent was especially evident when it was necessary to guess the numbers of lottery tickets. He even compiled an arithmetic table to determine the winning numbers. However, he still earned little, and sometimes there was nothing to feed the five children. Chronic poverty, as you know, spoils character. So Antonio became cruel and stubborn. And although Teresa tried not to contradict her husband, the situation in the family was explosive. The poor woman sought solace in religion and in raising children. She paid special attention to Niccolo, her favorite.
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SISSY
She adored her son, and in this she was as exalted as in faith. She also had the gift of foresight: she had prophetic dreams, she saw the fate of friends, illness and death of relatives … Once she saw Niccolo standing on the stage surrounded by a crowd roaring with delight … Another time in a dream an angel appeared to her and asked what she wished would a devout woman if she could make a request to God? Teresa asked to make her Niccolo the greatest violinist in the world. For years she had been telling everyone about the “prophetic” dream: relatives, neighbors, husband, son … Her husband just beat her up, and Niccolò since then firmly believed: he was destined for glory. But it was still so far from her!..
How much hard work! How much humiliation and struggle with envious people. At the age of eight, he wrote his first piece of music - a violin sonata, and the kind patron of the arts, the Marquis di Negro, decided: Niccolò must be seriously taught. For several years, Paganini composed 24 fugues for piano in four hands, two violin concertos and several pieces. Alas, none of these works have come down to us. This is also some kind of secret. As if the heavens did not want to leave traces of him on earth …
THE SECRET OF THE SEVEN SEALS
The whole life of Paganini is surrounded by an aura of mystery. Legends ascribed everything to him! He kidnapped noble ladies, killed their husbands, was the leader of a gang of robbers, spent several years in hard labor for the murder of his beloved, sold his soul to the devil, who freed him from prison and made him an incomparable master of playing the violin.
There was no shortage of "eyewitnesses": in Vienna, a handsome secular man told how, at a sign from Paganini, given to him from the stage, the devil's servant took a young woman out of the hall. Supposedly later they, together with the musician, took the unfortunate woman away in a carriage. "By God, I saw it!" the young liar swore.
For many years Paganini smiled slyly when he heard such nonsense: it seemed to him that it even benefited his concert tour. Gossip and fiction increased interest in his personality, attracted the public - advertising, in today's language. But then he got tired - it is still tiresome to be the adventurer of Messire Devil himself!
RIDDLE OF A GENIUS
His first tour began in 1800, it was a real triumph - in Parma. From there he was invited to speak at the court of Duke Ferdinand of Bourbon. Niccolò became a brand - and Antonio's dad understood it perfectly: it's time to make money on his son's talent! He organized tours throughout Northern Italy. Paganini is applauded in Florence, Pisa, Bologna, Livorno, Milan … However, Antony does not loosen his grip: no success, my boy, cancels the lessons! And Niccolo, after exhausting concerts, continues to study the violin.
His incomprehensible skill and magical power over the audience amazed both contemporaries and art historians. When people fell under the hypnosis of his music, his genius - they were ready to believe in any stories. There was indeed something mystical here. For centuries, highbrow scientists and people who are simply sensitive to cultural phenomena, erudites and music fans have sought to unravel a one-of-a-kind, unique phenomenon. In vain: Paganini's secret has remained a mystery. Yes, he endlessly experimented in search of new methods, new harmonies, new meanings; he created an arsenal of performing tools, the existence of which violinists, the creators of "schools" and "directions", did not suspect before him. Great talent, ingenious flair, indomitable will, the ability to work day and night - all these qualities are, of course, important. But there was something else there - without which Paganini would not have been known as a devil with a violin. Why was it given to him to electrify the audience and deprive it of will? Why did he bring such famous violinists - adherents of classical traditions to such anger?
FANTASTIC MAN
Few understood the greatness and importance of Paganini. But such were all the same! At the end of the 19th century, a professor at the Paris Conservatory Charles Dunkla wrote: “I was thirteen years old when I heard Paganini: this strange, fantastic man, gifted with a wonderful technique. What precision, what confidence, what captivating warmth of sound!.. He amazed me so much that I can still see him in front of me, and his violin is still ringing in my ears. Some artists believe that Paganini was a dazzling meteor that left no traces. I cannot but rebel against this so erroneous, so unfair opinion, for today, as then, Paganini rendered a great service to thinking violinists by showing them new ways …”It is interesting that the Catholic Church was very tolerant of this“devilish talent”during his lifetime: he was not pursued,moreover, the Pope gave him the Order of the Golden Spur - a very prestigious one. This award was received before him by Titian and Raphael, Mozart and Gluck. But after the death of the genius, the Catholics won back …
HIS MUSIC
Oh, how many copies of his "Caprice" are broken. Some shouted: this is a masterpiece! Others: This is the music of the devil. It is impossible to perform it!
No, maybe! The most brilliant violinists of the past one and a half centuries have played his works. The originality of form and the boldness of fantasy are unmatched in the work of Paganini's contemporary composers, his works remain an example of the highest virtuosity to this day. Yes, few violinists are able to perform all 24 caprices, but there cannot be many geniuses! It is said that some of its passages contain technically insurmountable difficulties. He, they say, wrote on purpose so that no one after him would play it. But after all, Paganini himself performed - it means that it is possible. Are you far from him? But then don't reproach him with greed: he supposedly charged double, triple entrance fees to his concerts! Yes, and sometimes increased it five times compared to other performers. But the genius is in the right. And who will determine how much an unhappy childhood is worth,What is the price of the health spent in youth, sacrificed to the violin? How to compensate for the colossal tension in which he worked at concerts ?!
It is not easy to put listeners into a trance. And in order to be called the devil (or your gift is a gift of God!), You need to give all the strength of your soul, and this is worth something.
STANDAL TOLD THE TRUTH
His "demonic" appearance conquered many women. How many there were! The adorable Dide, the capricious Eliza (Napoleon's sister), the crazy Angelina Cavannah, because of whom he was almost imprisoned on charges of kidnapping, the talented singer Bianca … He was not happy with any, and can a genius be happy with the earth a woman? One of the legends says that he came to the heights of skill because of a sad love story. Because of the woman, allegedly, 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. And this is not someone's version, but Stendhal's!
Stendhal was mistaken: Paganini was not a slave to any love, except for the love of music.
Paganini wrote for violin, but almost everything he wrote is performed today on the guitar. Rock musicians especially love him - they often use his Caprices in their compositions. Paganini's music is not just virtuoso. It exists outside of time and will never become outdated. But she lends itself only to a talent "proportionate": uninspired by the performer's genius, his acrobatically complex compositions remain empty and dead. Magic lives only in the magician's force field …
LIFE AFTER DEATH
Paganini's genius, his lively mind, originality of judgments, wit and courtesy attracted many to him. But just as many were repelled by his directness and impudence, narcissism and greed. Politicians, aristocrats, scientists, writers, poets and musicians were looking for his society and friendship. But there were also those who cursed him. He lived his 57 years without rest and peace. And then for another thirty-six years his ashes could not find peace.
Paganini died on May 27, 1840 in Nice, according to legend - embracing a violin. In his will, he indicated his sisters, Anthony Bianca and son Achilles. They received 2,000,000 lire, many securities and real estate in various European countries, as well as a large collection of jewelry and musical instruments. Only the Guarneri Del Gesu violin was bequeathed by the genius to the city of Genoa, in whose museum it is kept to this day. Since Niccolò did not have the last communion, the Bishop of Nice forbade him to celebrate the musician's funeral Mass and to bury him in the local cemetery. The maestro's friends took the expensive walnut coffin to Genoa, but Governor Philip Paolucci refused to even let the ship into the harbor. The schooner stood on the roads for three months. Finally, after lengthy negotiations, the remains of Paganini were allowed to be transferred to the basement of the castle of Count Cessola, a friend of the great violinist. But even there they did not find peace: the inhabitants of the surrounding villages allegedly rebelled - "we do not need the devil!" And the body was transported to the deserted rocky island of Saint-Honor, while the son of Paganini sought in Rome the highest permission to bury the remains of his father to earth.
In April 1844, the coffin was again dug up and transported to Nice … The fight for the right to bury the greatest musician of Europe in a Christian way was crowned with success only in 1876 - thirty-six years after his death.
Igor Istomin
