Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 8.djvu/185

 N PAGANINI 32.0 PAGANINI (1784- 1 840) icolo Paganini, whose European fame as a violinist entitles him to a notice here, was born at Genoa in 1784. His father, a commission-broker, played on the mandolin ; but fully aware of the in- feriority of an instrument so limited in power, he put a violin into his son's hands, and initiated him in the principles of music. The child succeeded so well under parental tuition, that at eight years of age he played three times a week in the church, as well as in the public saloons. At the same period he com- posed a sonata. In his ninth year he was placed under the instruction of Costa, first violoncellist of Genoa ; then had lessons of Rolla, a famous per- former and composer; and finally studied counter- point at Parma under Ghiretti and the celebrated maestro Paer. He now took an engagement at Lucca, where he chiefly associated with persons who at the gaming-table stripped him of his gains as quickly as he acquired them. He there received the appointment of director of orchestra to the court, at which the Princess Elisa Bacciochi, sister of Napoleon I., presided, and thither invited, to the full extent of her means, superior talent of every kind. In 1813 he per- formed at Milan ; five years after, at Turin ; and subsequently at Florence and Naples. In 1828 he visited Vienna, where a very popular violinist and com- poser, Mayseder, asked him how he produced such new effects. His reply was characteristic of a selfish mind : " Chacim a ses secrets." In that capital, it is affirmed, he was imprisoned, being accused of having murdered his wife. He challenged proofs of his ever having been married, which could not be produced. Then he was charged with having poignarded his mistress. This he also publicly refuted. The fact is that he knew better how to make money than friends, and he raised up enemies wherever his thirst for gold led him. Avarice was his master-passion ; and, second to this, gross sensuality. The year 1831 found Paganini in Paris, in which excitable capital he pro- duced a sensation not inferior to that created by the visit of Rossini. Even this renowned composer was so carried away, either by the actual genius of the vio- linist or by the current of popular enthusiasm, that he is said to have wept on hearing Paganini for the first time. He arrived in England in 1831, and im- mediately announced a concert at the Italian Opera House, at a price which, if acceded to, would have yielded ,£3,391 per night; but the attempt was too auda- cious, and he was compelled to abate his demands, though he succeeded m