All biographical notices of Paganini, with the exception of that in Riemann's "Dictionary of Music," give February 18th, 1784, as the date of birth. The correct date seems to have been established when the centenary celebration took place, in 1882.
[1]
Anders, and others after him, give the name of the second singer as Albertinotti. No such name can be traced, and it is probable that it was the young Bertinotti, who was a juvenile prodigy, appearing in opera at the age of twelve. She sang in London about the year 1812.
[2]
William Gardiner many years later spoke of the transparent delicacy of Paganini's complexion, and said of his little son Achille that he was the handsomest boy he had ever seen.
[3]
FÉtis calls it "Foudroyante exÉcution."
[4]
Naumann, "History of Music," p. 1140 (English Edition.)
[5]
Professor Julius Schottky.
[6]
Cimarosa, who died in 1801, espoused the revolutionary cause when the French army entered Italy, and was imprisoned and condemned to death when the reaction came, but was restored to liberty on condition of leaving Naples. He would, naturally, have been popular with the Bonapartists, and it was rather ungenerous vanity on the part of Paganini to have exulted over this particular success.
[7]
LaphalÉque.
[8]
Son of Giuseppe Dana, of Naples?
[9]
The Life of Rossini, p. 226.
[10]
With the exception of a Literary Supplement to the "New Musical and Universal Magazine," 1774, there was no publication devoted to Music until the year 1818, when "The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review" appeared, edited by Robert Mackenzie Bacon. This was followed in 1823 by "The Harmonicon," edited by William Ayrton.
[11]
Harmonicon, Vol. III., p. 37.
[12]
Where Beethoven gave his concerts in 1814.
[13]
The writer's memory played him false. The meeting with Lafont took place in 1816; or, according to some, in 1812!
[14]
This letter was reproduced in the "Harmonicon."
[15]
Lady Morgan, in her book, "France in 1829-30," gives an account of the Giraffe just then arrived in Paris. The animal was added to the collection in the London Zoological Gardens in 1836.
[16]
Litterateur, of Vienna: writer of comedies, etc.
[17]
This letter was published in The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review.
[18]
Addressed to Le Corsaire, and reproduced (in English) in The Globe.
[19]
An allusion to Michael Boai, whose performances in London, in 1830, were of a curious description,—producing tones by merely striking his chin!
[20]
The Dilettante, in The Harmonicon, VIII, 479.
[21]
Now played in D.
[22]
Harmonicon, IX. p. 190.
[23]
At that time concert givers always engaged an orchestra, but the gigantic combinations of the present day were, of course, unknown, and unnecessary.
[24]
Chorley, then living in Liverpool, had previously sent some short pieces in verse to that paper, but did not become a member of its staff until 1833.
[25]
"Reminiscences," by Thomas Carlyle, I., 311.
[26]
Which resulted in the Symphony, "Harold in Italy," with a solo part for the viola.
[27]
The spelling betrays an ignorance of the instrument, though the writer must have been Chorley himself. Interest in those antique instruments had not then been revived, nor were there artists to play upon them.
[28]
Pergolesi.
[29]
The AthenÆum puts the amount at 52,000 francs.
[30]
In the Musical World of February 16th, 1843, there is a paragraph stating that Paganini's remains were still unsepulchred, the corpse lying in an uninhabited house.
[31]
Life of Moscheles (English Edition), I., p. 252-7.
[32]
Duranowski, a talented Polish violinist. He entered the French army and was aide-de-camp to a General. He lost his rank when released; returned to his violin, and was living at Strassburg up to 1834.
[33]
An engraving of it is in Naumann's "History of Music" (English Edition), p. 255.
[34]
Norwich.
[35]
In the "Bow Bell's Annual" for 1878 (?)
[36]
Little is now known of this artist. He married Veronica, sister of the pianist and composer J. L. Dussek, and was the father of Pio Cianchettini, composer, who died at Cheltenham in 1851.
[37]
Berlioz was then thirty-five, Paganini, fifty-six years of age.
[38]
Aus dem Tonleben unserer Zeit, Vol. II., p. 55.
[39]
KÜnstlerleben, p. 88.
[40]
Life and Letters of Sir Charles HallÉ, p. 69.
[41]
The last words of Liszt's article "Sur Paganini, A Propos de Sa Mort," published in the "Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris," December 23, 1840.
[42]
Franz Liszt, Artist and Man, Vol. I., pp. 258-65.
[43]
Karl Michael Esser, born about 1736, date of death unknown.
[44]
In the Tonic Sol-fa method great stress is laid upon the mental effect of each note of the scale, altogether apart from pitch.
[45]
Life of Mozart, Otto Jhan, English Edition, I., 319.
[46]
In 1883, several musical papers stated that a certain amateur collector of violins, during a tour in Italy, visited the little Sardinian village, Ameglia, and purchased a collection of instruments used by Paganini, which were at that time in the possession of the widow of L. M. Germi, the intimate friend of Paganini. The said amateur also became possessed of "the secret," but what he did with it has never transpired.
[47]
Born at Mantua, 1798; died at Paris, 1834.
[48]
"The Violin," by George Hart. Popular Edition, 1880, p. 202.
[49]
It is strange that the Biographical Dictionaries are silent concerning Oury, who must have been a man of some note. He is merely named as the husband of Anna Caroline de Belleville, the once famous pianist (1806-1880), who made her dÉbut in London at a Paganini concert in 1831.
[50]
The Story of the Violin by Paul Stoeving, p. 208.
[51]
LaphelÉque, p. 45.
[52]
Carl F. W. Guhr, born at Militsch, Silesia, October 30th, 1787, violinist, pianist and composer, became Director of the Museum Concerts and Conductor of the Opera at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in which city he died July 22nd, 1848.
[53]
Mrs. Tom Taylor (nÉe Laura Wilson Barker) was a fine musician, a composer, and almost phenomenal performer on the pianoforte and the violin. She played with both Spohr and Paganini, and took down this set of variations after hearing Paganini play them twice. She died at Coleshill, Bucks, May 22nd, 1905, at the advanced age of eighty-six.
[54]
Gustavo Carulli was the son of the celebrated guitarrist, Ferdinando Carulli, and was born at Leghorn in 1801.
[55]
They were performed at the private quartet concerts given by Mr. Burnett in the Art Club, Blackheath, from about the year 1893 onward.
[56]
The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, Vol. X., p. 205.
