Franz Schubert

I have heard the angels sing proclaimed Franz Schubert upon hearing music from Niccolo Paganini, composer of 24 violin caprices, Witchs Dance, Perpetual Motion, the orchestral Concerto in D Major, Carnival of Venice, and La Capanella. . Niccolo Paganini has been called the greatest violin player of all time. He was not only the toast of all Europe, he was a legend in his own time. His fab- ulous command of his instrument was no legend, nor was it legend that no au- dience failed to succumb to a kind of spell in the presence of his musical genius. Not only his playing but his cadaverous appearance on the stage aroused awe and terror. His pale , long face with its hollow cheeks and lips curled into a sardonic smile, the piercing expression of his eyes, fed the rumor that he was the son of the devil. The word spread that the G string of his violin was made from the intestines of a murdered mi stress. Despite all of this he was worship- ed wherever he went. Women pursued him, musicians followed him from Paganinis father raised his son with cruelty and relentless practice sessions. Aware that he had a prodigy on his hands and eager to capitalize, he kept Niccolo from any schooling. His mother added to his fervour with the frequent recital of a dream, where an angel promised her that her son would be the greatest violin player ever. Niccolo quickly exhausted his teachers, and when he was just eight years old played a concerto in a local church with such success that he was forever in demand. By the age of thirteen he was known as the won- derchild. Some additional study took place between the years of fourteen and sixteen, bu...