PAGANINI, NtccoLO (1782 1840). A famous violinist, born in Genoa, the son of a poor shopkeeper. Under his father's encouragement the child was early imbued with the ambition to become a great violinist, and formed the habit, which lie maintained through out his career, of incessant practice. Ile studied at first under Scrvetto, the leader of the Genoa Theatre, and two rears later under Costa, the principal violinist and conductor in the Cathe dral at Genoa, with whom he made his greatest progress. Other teachers were Onecco, Alessan dro Rolla. and Ghiretti. He produced his first sonata before he was nine years of age. and was also desired by his teacher. to perform every Sunday in church a violin concerto. a practice to which Paganini attached great importance, in that it forced him to the constant study of new music. His first appearance in public was in 1793 at Genoa. In 1795 he went to Parma to become a pupil of Rolla, but there is some doubt whether the arrangement was carried out. About this time he evolved a style of fingering and a method of bowing peculiar to himself. Upon his return to Genoa he composed his first studies, which were of such unheard-of difficulty that he frequently was known to have spent ten or twelve hours practicing a single passage. So far, lie had been wholly tinder the control of his father, whose only thought apparently was as to how far he could turn his son's talent to his own financial ad vantage: hut in 1798, after a very successful con cert at Lucca, lie threw off parental control and made a tour of Pisa and other places. He was everywhere received with the utmost enthusiasm, and although but a youth, he unfortunately be came intoxicated with the license of his life and plunged into all kinds of dissipation, especially that of gambling. Alternate periods of gambling and study, both pursued with equal zeal, reacted dangerously on his naturally weak constitution, with the result that illness frequently prevented his fulfilling engagements. On one occasion he was announced for a concert at Leghorn, but hav ing gambled away his money and pawned his violin, he was compelled to appeal for the loan of an instrument to keep his engagement. In this emergency 31. Livorn. a French merchant of Leghorn, lent him his Guarnerius, said to be one of the finest violins in the world. After the con cert, when Paganini desired to return the in strument, its owner exclaimed, "Never will I profane the strings which yoto• fingers have touched. That instrument is yours." Paganini used this instrument at all his concerts, and at his death bequeathed it to his native town of Genoa, where it is still preserved in the museum. From 1801 to 1S03 he lived in comparative re tirement at his home, dividing his attention be tween composition and the guitar• on which instrument he was very proficient. Ile took up his concert tours in 1805, meeting, if possible, with greater enthusiasm than before. lle was
appointed Court solo violinist at Lucca. at which place he remained until 1SOS, and then for twenty made concert tours in Italy. In 1828 he be gan his tours of other countries, commencing with Austria. His opening concert in Vienna was a complete triumph. The gold medal of Saint Salvator was conferred upon him by the city authorities; from the Emperor he received the title of Court virtuoso, and on all sides be was hailed as the popular hero. A similar success greeted him in Germany (1829) and in Frame (1531). His first appearance in London was on June 3, 1831, and in the year which followed he appeared in the principal cities of England, accumulating a considerable fortune. Ile then returned to Paris. but revisited England the following season. The winter of 1833.34 was spent in Paris, during which period he main tained a close intimacy with Berlioz, whom he invited to write a concerto for his Stradivarius viola, a request which resulted in the composi tion of "Harold en Italie." Four years later Berlioz received from Paganini a present of 20,000 francs as a mark of his admiration. in 1534 he returned to Parma and purchased several properties, in one of which. the Villa Bagona, he made his residence for two years. About this time his health gave signs of a complete break down. In 1836 he was persuaded to join some Parisian speculators in the establishment of a casino for music and gambling in the fashionable quarter of Paris. it was opened under the name. of the Casino Paganini. hut the Government re fused to sanction gambling, and the venture proved a failure, with great financial loss to Paganini. The end of his career was rapidly approaching. He journeyed to Slarseilles, and from there to Genoa. and shortly afterwards to Nice, in which city he died. His technic in double-stops, left-hand pizzicato. harmonics, and staccato approached the miraculous. while his power and control of tone and the intense pas sion of his style brought his audiences into in stant subjection, so that he swayed them at will. He had many personal eccentricities and numberless tricks of virtuosity. His composi tions were comparatively few, and included the following: twenty-four capricei for single violin: six sonatas for violin and guitar: three grand quartets for violin, viola, guitar. and violoncello (opus 4, 5) ; eoneerto in ED (solo part written in D, for a violin tuned a semitone higher; opus 6). Consult: L'Ihsritier, Notice sue le eNi.bre rioliniste Niceol6 Paganini I Paris. Eng. trans., London, 1830) ; Schottky. Pogo ninis Leben and Charakter (Hamburg, 1830) ; FOtis, Biographical Notice of LViceolt) Paganini (trans. from the French, London, 1871).
PAGE, .11a. In Shak.peare's Merry Wives of Windsor, a gentleman to whom, under the name of Brook, Falstaff boasts of his conquest of )Irs. Page and in consequence becomes a laughing stock. Page's daughter, Anne, is in love with Fenton.