Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) was one of the most celebrated violinists (and guitarists) of the 19th century and the first real violin virtuoso of international fame. How good was he? It was said that a number of the court musicians of the orchestras of Europe gave up the violin after seeing and hearing him perform. Audiences were universally electrified. Women would faint.

Men would scream.

A contemporary wrote of him, “Paganini begins where our reason stops.” He opened the world to the age of virtuosity.

One of his performances was described this way:

“Presently, the crowd of musicians and violinists filled the colonnade to suffocation, all anxious to get in front, because they had to pay for their places, Paganini not giving a single ticket away. A breathless silence ensued, and every eye was watching the action of this extraordinary violinist; and as he glided from the side scenes to the front of the stage, an involuntary cheering broke out from every part of the house; during the thunder of this unprecedented cheering, his gaunt and extraordinary appearance, being more like that of a devotee about to suffer martyrdom, than one to delight you with his art. At the termination of this introduction, he commenced with a soft dreamy note of celestial quality and, with three or four whips of his bow, elicited points of sound that mounted to the third heaven and were as bright as the stars. A scream of astonishment and delight burst forth from the audience at the novelty of this effect. After this, the audience were enraptured by a lively strain in which you heard, commingled with the tones of the violin, those of the voice, with the pizzicato [plucking] of the guitar, forming a compound of exquisite beauty.”*

He was a flamboyant showman who would occasionally sever one or two of the violin strings and continue on the remaining strings with equal dexterity as if nothing had occurred. His unprecedented virtuosity influenced not only the violin and guitar but also the orchestra and the piano. Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Sergei Rachmaninoff were greatly impacted by his brilliance, dedication, and virtuosity.

How did he become such a virtuoso? Some say it was his extraordinarily long fingers, but according to Paganini himself,

“How easy it is to play with the reputation of an artist merely because men cannot conceive it possible that he may have studied as closely in his own chamber and in full possession of his liberty, as he would if he had been chained up in a dungeon.”

Paganini once calmed a rattled composer who failed to recognize the composer’s own violin concerto this way:

“Don’t distress yourself. At the concert, you will recognize your work well enough; only now, I claim a little indulgence.”

What was so extraordinary about Paganini is that he single-handedly took an entire musical culture to a higher, previously unimagined level of virtuoso performance, and music has never been the same since.

Brilliance can take many forms. There is organizational brilliance, leadership brilliance, and artistic brilliance. In fact, brilliance can be found in any area of human endeavor. Although brilliance can trump hard work in terms of the time required to perform a task, those who are brilliant are usually known to work extremely hard. They put in the effort, partly because they enjoy what they do and partly because it is by using those gifts that they can truly shine.

The demonstration of outstanding competence creates its own satisfaction.

* Daniels, R. (1990). The Heavy Guitar Bible, Volume II. Port Chester, New York: Cherry Lane Music Company.