Paganini: "The devil´s violinist"

Dear lector, do you know who was Niccoló Paganini? Better known as "The devil's violinist" ... Do you know why?

In this article i would like to share with you his interesting history and let you know why he was called like that.

Paganini was an italian violinist considered one of the best composers of all time. He composed so much songs, of which some are very famous and maybe you listened before, like La Campanella which was recently used for the K-pop group BLACKPINK as a sample in their song Shut Down. Other of his very famous pieces for violin are: Caprice 24 and Caprice 5. He also wrote pieces for guitar, mandolin, fagot and viola.

He was born in Italy in 1782 and since he was seven years old he started to study and practice violin. At 14 years old he did a tour trough some cities in Italy and impressed people with his incredible technique. Some reconized him as the best violinist of his time since he was able of making movements and expressing sounds with his instrument that not just anyone could do.

He composed the 24 Caprices for violin Op 1 and in this way he become one of the greatest representatives of romanticism and contributed to the increase of advanced techniques for the violin. But, this was only the start of his career.

Due to his way of interpreting each song and the techniques he used (which consisted of: triple chords, pizzicatis, arpeggios and glissandis) earned him the admiration of important people in the world of music but also caused great unknows and speculations.

How he was able to make that sound? How he can make changes and sequences so fast? How can he do things that the other musicians cannot? "That´s souspicios".

This were some of the questions the people start to had because his skill with the violin was something else, so incredible and sometimes supernatural that they began to believe that he had made some kind of pact with the devil. But this really wasn´t true. At that time when someone did something out of the ordinary or really surprising the people believed that there was something darker behind that.

Also, he had a particular aura, personality and a different image, which increased all the rumors. He took advantage of this and started wearing black, tight clothing. He made many tours and concerts, arriving in a carriage pulled by two black steeds.

The truth is that after so many years practicing violin his fingers began to have a peculiar appearance, they became very flexible, long and thin. But of course, this helped him to continue being the great violin icon that he was.

According to specialists, the characteristics that he presented in his hands were qualitys of the Marfan Syndrome, a congenital disease that disfigured his fingers. Paganini was victim of chronic illnesses that made him look strange due to the harmful treatments of that time.

Well... Not everyone knows about this, just a few people. Since Paganini is remembered for his particular and distintive look, the people knows him as the "Devil´s violinist" beacuse his techqnique was capable of surprise musicians with years of experience, when he was just a young man.

Paganini died in Niza in 1840, due to internal bleeding caused by syphillis. Due to his reputation and all the rumors, the bishop of Niza did not allow him to have a catholic burial. His body was embalmed and stored in the old basement of his house.

A couple years later the catholic church allowed his body to be transfered and buried in the cementery of La Villeta di Parma, located in Génova.

He leaft a great legacy for the world of music and will always be remebered for being an iconic person and one of the best violinst in history.