N is for Niccolò Paganini

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! N is for Niccolò Paganini. He was an Italian composer and violinist who lived from 1782 to 1840. Today’s featured video is Niccolò Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 in A Minor performed by Alexander Markov. He plays this piece stunningly well, there’s even a point around the 3-minute mark where the camera frames can’t seem to keep up with Alexander’s finger movements!

 

Video link: https://youtu.be/PZ307sM0t-0

 

By Jean Auguste
Dominique Ingres

   ·   Niccolò Paganini’s father began teaching him the mandolin at age 5, then he learned the violin by age 7. When his family realized his talent, they had him study with various local violinists.
 

   ·   He moved to Parma, Italy in 1795 to get further training, but he was told that there was nothing more they could teach him. He began training himself and would practice up to 15 hours a day!
 

   ·   He once borrowed a violin made by Giuseppe Guarneri for a concert from a wealthy business man named Livron. After the concert, Livron refused to take it back because of how well Paganini played. That violin is now known as Il Cannone Guarnerius and is on display in Genoa, Italy.
 

   ·   Paganini was called “Witch’s Child” and many people believed that he made a pact with the devil because his playing ability appeared to be supernatural.  Paganini enjoyed it. According to inmozartsfootsteps.com, “he would dress completely in black and sometimes arrive at a concert in a black carriage pulled by four black horses.”
 

Il Cannone Guarnerius

   ·   His abilities may have been caused by a medical condition. It is believed that he had Marfan syndrome or Ehlers–Danlos syndrome, which could have accounted for his very long fingers and excessive flexibility of the joints.
 

   ·   His works, especially “La Campanella” and A Minor Caprice No. 24, have inspired many composers, including Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Sources: http://www.paganini.com/nicolo/nicindex.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Paganini

http://inmozartsfootsteps.com/1032/paganini-violinist-helped-by-marfan-syndrome/

 

            Yesterday’s trivia: Which member of Mozart's family is speculated to be the composer of the Toy Symphony? Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s father, Leopold Mozart, may have composed the Toy Symphony which includes parts for toy instruments. Although, there are other possibilities for its origin.

            For this challenge, I’m keeping a playlist of the videos I’m using plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. I will update with the latest letter each day. In the video I added today, we hear another instrument Niccolò Paganini was fond of: the guitar. The extra video I added is Paganini’s Grand Sonata in A for guitar and violin.

 

 

Do you know any violinists? Have they attempted the Caprice No. 24? Trivia: Who played Niccolò Paganini in the 2013 movie, The Devil's Violinist?