On This Day!
1782-1840, Italian violin virtuoso and composer Niccolo Paganini is born in Genoa.
"There was a feeling of Satanism about this tall, dark, emaciated Italian. Musicians swarmed to his concerts trying to figure out how he achieved these effects. The public also flocked, and many of the more superstitious listeners believed him in league with the devil. Paganini did nothing to dispel the notion. One of his tricks was to break a string in the middle of a composition and continue to the end on three strings. No instrumentalist in history caused the sheer mania that Paganini did, nor had anybody else ever brought such an element of calculated, brilliant showmanship to his work."
From "The Lives of the Great Composers"
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'Truth and beauty joined'
"There was a feeling of Satanism about this tall, dark, emaciated Italian. Musicians swarmed to his concerts trying to figure out how he achieved these effects. The public also flocked, and many of the more superstitious listeners believed him in league with the devil. Paganini did nothing to dispel the notion. One of his tricks was to break a string in the middle of a composition and continue to the end on three strings. No instrumentalist in history caused the sheer mania that Paganini did, nor had anybody else ever brought such an element of calculated, brilliant showmanship to his work."
From "The Lives of the Great Composers"
------------------
'Truth and beauty joined'
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