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NICOLO PAGANINI:
HIS LIFE AND WORK.
PRINTED BY E. SHORE AND CO.,
3, GREEN TERRACE, ROSEBERY AVENUE, LONDON, E.C.
[Illustration: _Plate I.--See Appendix._
PORTRAIT OF NICOLO PAGANINI BY MAURIN.]
_"THE STRAD" LIBRARY, No. XVII._
NICOLO PAGANINI:
HIS LIFE AND WORK,
BY
STEPHEN S. STRATTON.
"_Natura il fece, e poi ruppe la stampa._"
ARIOSTO.
_WITH TWENTY-SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS._
London:
"THE STRAD" OFFICE, 3, GREEN TERRACE, ROSEBERY AVENUE, E.C.
J. LENG & CO., 186, FLEET STREET, E.C.
New York:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 153-157, FIFTH AVENUE.
1907.
PREFACE.
The author of this work did not live to see the final sheets in print.
Although it has not received his revision, yet the book has had careful
editing. Mr. Stratton did not undertake the Life of Paganini without
adequate preparation. He had during many years thoughtfully studied the
artist and his attributes, and became an acknowledged authority on the
subject. He gathered from all available sources the most reliable
information. Almost his last journey was a pilgrimage to Paganini's
birthplace. This volume will exhibit his versatility, particularly the
chapter giving the analyses of Paganini's compositions. It is therefore
the most complete account of the greatest virtuoso recorded in the
annals of music. Those who peruse this most interesting biography of
Paganini, will naturally desire to learn something of the writer.
Stephen Samuel Stratton was born in London on December 19th, 1840. He
began his career as a chorister of St. Mary's Church, Ealing. He studied
harmony and composition under Charles Lucas. As an organist, he held
these appointments--St. Mary the Virgin, Soho; and St. James's Church,
Friern Barnet. On his removal to Birmingham in 1866, he was organist at
St. Barnabas Church; Edgbaston Old Parish Church; St. John's, Harborne;
and the Church of the Saviour (1878-1882). In 1879 he commenced a series
of chamber concerts in Birmingham.
From 1877 until the day of his death, Mr. Stratton was the musical
critic of the "Birmingham Daily Post." In that position his influence
was decidedly beneficial. He was also a contributor to the London
Musical Press. He will be remembered as the joint author (with Mr. James
D. Brown) of "British Musical Biography." His "Life of Mendelssohn" was
written for Messrs. Dent's "Master Musicians." Among other items may be
mentioned "Musical Curiosities," and valuable papers read before the
"Incorporated Society of Musicians."
In private life he was highly esteemed--an honorable citizen--a genial,
kind hearted man, with a genuine love of his profession. He died, after
a short illness, in Birmingham, on June 25th, 1906.
R. H.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
BOYHOOD 1
CHAPTER II.
EARLY TRIUMPHS 9
CHAPTER III.
ITALIAN TOURS 22
CHAPTER IV.
TOURS ON THE CONTINENT 35
CHAPTER V.
FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND 50
CHAPTER VI.
FINAL TOUR 61
CHAPTER VII.
DEATH 73
CHAPTER VIII.
PAGANINI, THE MAN 85
CHAPTER IX.
THE ARTIST AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 107
CHAPTER X.
HIS METHODS IN PLAYING 128
CHAPTER XI.
HIS COMPOSITIONS 148
CHAPTER XII.
MEMORIALS 191
APPENDIX.--NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 195
BIBLIOGRAPHY 201
NICOLO PAGANINI:
HIS LIFE AND WORK.
CHAPTER I.
There are some names, the mere mention or thought of which conjure up
distinct personalities; such are Handel, Bach, Beethoven, Wagner; but
not one has the extraordinary individuality of that of Paganini. Though
few can be living who ever saw the man, though his portraits are not now
commonly to be met with, the name of Paganini at once calls up a
picture--weird, uncanny, demoniacal; brings back the faint echo of
performances long lost in the corridors of time; and excites the
imagination in a manner altogether unique. The last few years have
witnessed the appearance of an unprecedented number of wonderful young
violinists, whose achievements culminate in the marvellous playing of
the boy Franz von Vecsey. These manifestations are almost enough to
induce belief in the theory or doctrine of reincarnation, and to make
one fancy that the great Genoese is once again in the flesh. These
violinists, too, are all playing Paganini's music; they seem to glory in
it, and so do the audiences, although to many serious and worthy folk
it is mere clap-trap stuff. This revived interest in Paganini and his
music seems to render the present an appropriate time to restate the
case of the man and the artist, notwithstanding the extensive literature
already associated with his name.
It is a curious fact that nearly every distinguished musician, composer
or executant, has his namesakes. There was a constant succession of
Bachs in Thuringia for nearly two centuries; Beethoven's father and
grand-father were musicians; there were four Mozarts, musicians; and
more than twenty Wagners of some standing in the musical world. No one
seems to have traced the pedigree of Paganini, but he was preceded and
followed by others bearing the same name, and such particulars as can be
gleaned concerning these Paganinis may not be without interest, and at
least may serve by way of introduction to the greatest of them all.
Dr. Burney, in his account of Italian Opera in London during the last
half of the eighteenth century, names a Signor and Signora Paganini as
engaged for the season of 1760-61. They came from Berlin, and the Doctor
is ungallant enough to say that the lady, known as "The Paganini," was
not young. She made her _debut_ on November 22, 1760, in Galuppi's "Il
Mondo della Luna," in a _buffa_ part, and was very captivating. At her
benefit, when another opera by Galuppi was given--"Il Filosofo di
Campagna,"--such a crowd assembled as had never been seen on any other
occasion. Not one third of those who presented themselves at the
Opera-house were able to obtain admission. "Caps were lost, and gowns
torn to pieces, without number or mercy, in the struggle to get in.
Ladies in full dress, who had sent away their carriages, were obliged to
appear in the streets and walk home without caps or attendants."
"Luckily the weather was fine," adds the Doctor, who witnessed this
uncommon spectacle. "The Paganini" thus anticipated the extraordinary
triumphs of the more famous artist of half a century later. Signor
Paganini, the husband, was only "a coarse first man," and sang almost
without a voice. Next comes Ercole Paganini, born at Ferrara, about
1770, the composer of several operas, produced at La Scala, Milan, and
at Florence, from 1804 to 1810. A tenor singer named Paganini appeared
in opera at Florence in 1830, was decidedly successful and became highly
popular in Genoa in 1836. After Francesco Lamperti was appointed (in
1850) professor of singing at the Conservatorio, Milan, among the good
pupils he turned out was one named Paganini, of whom, however, no
particulars are forthcoming. In 1865, Cesare Paganini, a theoretical
writer, published a treatise at Florence; and in November, 1898,
Signora Franceschati-Paganini was the Bruennhilde in a performance of
"Goetterdaemmerung," at Bologna. Then there was Dr. Paganini, who was
perhaps the brother in whose charge young Nicolo was allowed to go to
Lucca in 1798. Whomsoever he may have been, this Dr. Paganini died in
1835, which event gave rise to a rumour that the great violinist
was dead--a rumour happily untrue. This Dr. Paganini was not a
fiddle-player, but a fiddle-fancier. He possessed a violin ornamented
with mother-o'-pearl and ebony, which had belonged to a Shah of Persia,
the favourite violin of Lord Byron (so it was said), one that had
belonged to Stanislaus of Poland, father-in-law of Louis XV., one that
had been played upon by Charles IV. of Spain (the enthusiast who had
quartet performances at six in the morning, and who scorned to "keep
time,") and another, once the property of that monarch's favourite, Don
Manuel de Godoy, Duke of Alcudia.
All the Paganinis mentioned above were eclipsed by _the_ Paganini
(_pace_ Dr. Burney), the artist who stood alone, whose life was full of
strange vicissitudes, who was worshipped and calumniated, who was
applauded as perhaps never artist was before nor since, yet who was
laughed at, hissed--only once--brought before the law-courts--threatened
with imprisonment and mobbed within an ace of being lynched. As a child
of four, Paganini narrowly escaped being buried alive; from youth up he
was a constant sufferer from physical disorders; he had no real home
till he was fifty-two; after death his remains were refused burial for
five years; and when his body had rested in the grave for half a century
it was exhumed, apparently in order that his features might once more be
gazed upon. Truly, Paganini's story is a romance, a drama, a tragedy. We
may not look upon his like again, nor is it desirable that we should;
for his life conveys a moral that few can fail to discern.
The artist is the child of his age. What kind of age was it that
produced Paganini? A few years before he was born there came into the
world one who was to set Europe aflame. The age was the age of
revolution. Thrones tottered; armies devastated the Continent, and Italy
became a mere appanage of the French Empire. The political upheaval was
accompanied by a revolution in art. The romantic school in music arose,
and Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, and Wagner,
were the psychic results of the turmoil into which the world was thrown.
Into such a world, already feeling the premonitory tremors of the great
Revolution, was Nicolo Paganini born, at Genoa, on October 27th,
1782.[1]
[Illustration: _Plate II.--See Appendix._
THE BIRTHPLACE OF PAGANINI.]
The Genoese--thrifty and industrious--bore no very good moral character
at that time; but they were then perhaps not alone in that respect.
Little information is available concerning the family of Paganini. The
father, Antonio Paganini, kept a small shop in the vicinity of the port;
he is described as a man of extraordinarily avaricious character, hard
and brutal, but possessing the redeeming quality of a love for music,
and showing some skill in the art; his instrument was the mandoline,
though Laphaleque says he was a violinist. The mother must have been of
a lovable disposition, from what little has been recorded of her. The
family consisted of two sons and two daughters. Of the elder son,
mention is made but once; of the daughters, nothing seems to be known.
Little Nicolo must have given evidence of musical talent very early,
but ere he was put to his studies he was attacked by the measles, and
that so severely that he remained for a whole day in a state of
catalepsy. He was given up for dead and was wrapped in a shroud, and
only a slight movement at the last, showing symptoms of life, saved him
from the horror of premature burial. Scarcely had he recovered, when his
father began his lessons in violin playing. The child's evident
disposition for the art excited the father's avarice, which found little
scope for gratification in his small business undertakings. He indulged
in golden dreams of the future, and to hasten their realisation was
unremitting in his work of instruction. His method was cruel in the
extreme. The poor child was kept to his task from morn till night;
slight faults were punished with rigour, even blows and starvation being
resorted to in order to force the talent which nature had bestowed. This
unnatural treatment must have wrung the heart of the gentle mother, and
doubtless by way of encouragement she told the poor little fellow of her
wonderful dream. An Angel had appeared to her, and promised her the
fulfilment of any desire. She asked that her son might become the
greatest of violinists, and her prayer was to be granted. This
disclosure may have fired the ambition of the child, for he was the
hardest of workers, and needed no spur. Already, at six years of age, he
was a tolerable player, and was even beginning to find out new paths.
His performances excited the admiration and amazement of the neighbours,
and even the Maestro Francesco Gnecco visited the little house by the
harbour to listen to the wonder-child. He introduced the boy to the
circle of his own friends, and made the father understand that he had
long outgrown his training. In short, the germ of the _virtuoso_ of
later days was already manifesting itself. Nicolo was now placed under
Giovanni Servetto, leader of the theatre band--a man of slight
attainments, with whom the boy did not stay long. His next master was
Giacomo Costa, the foremost violinist in Genoa and maestro di capella of
the Cathedral, a genial man, who took a lively interest in the boy.
Under Costa, Nicolo made rapid progress, and was introduced to a new
world, though the pedantry of the master frequently came into collision
with the peculiarities of the pupil. Young Paganini now had to play a
new concerto each week at one of the churches: that was one of the
conditions Costa imposed when taking him as a pupil. Paganini's
extraordinary powers as a player at sight were in great measure due to
this early experience. The father still exercised stern oversight, and
there was little relaxation or youthful pleasure for Nicolo. His health
was already undermined, and, as Dubourg touchingly puts it:--"the sickly
child, incapable of attaining a healthy maturity, was merged into the
suffering man."
In his eighth year Nicolo composed a sonata for the violin--since, with
other works, lost. About that time a very vivid, almost shamefaced,
impression was made upon him by hearing that Mozart, at the age of six,
had composed a pianoforte concerto, with parts for orchestra, and so
difficult that only a _virtuoso_ could execute it. For long Nicolo
tormented himself with the thought of this musical superiority, and
strove day and night to remedy his own imperfection in the art.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] All biographical notices of Paganini, with the exception of that in
Riemann's "Dictionary of Music," give February 18th, 1784, as the date
of birth. The correct date seems to have been established when the
centenary celebration took place, in 1882.