Violin Music: Paganini's 24 Caprices—Mighty Miniatures
When it comes to Paganini's 24 Caprices, leave your devil-may-care attitude behind
He lived a movie star’s life and had absolute power over his audience. Yet, violinist and composer Nicolò Paganini remained one of the most mysterious figures of his time. In 1831, he played 63 concerts in London, Scotland, and Ireland, and 49 in the provinces. On his programs, Mozart and Rossini’s works played second string. His interest in the viola sparked Berlioz to write Harold in Italy, one of the most glorious works in the classical music repertory. Given his unconventional looks, and his even more unconventional technique, no wonder the rumor of his being in league with the devil became such an effective marketing tool.
But despite his unparalleled fame and transformative artistic achievements, Paganini never wrote the violin method he intended to, which, he said, “would shorten the period of study.”
In the end, he died alone, suffering, cold, and at odds with the Catholic Church over his being a miser. Until 1845, five years after his death at age 57, his remains were stored in a cellar. 2010 marks the 170th anniversary of Paganini’s death. In recent years, his musical reputation has been considerably raised by an impressive number of distinguished new recordings of Paganini’s 24 Caprices for solo violin, Op. 1—the music that stands at the pinnacle of Paganini’s art.
The Caprices for solo violin are much like Bach’s solo violin work, in which every note has profound meaning, and yet Paganini wrote them before he was 25.
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