The Devil’s violinist...
Niccolò Paganini, (1782 – 1840), was such a virtuoso with the violin that most of his contemporaries were split into two groups: Those that argued that Paganini was possessed by the devil, and those that thought that he had made a pack with the devil. No-one believed that man alone can show such musical skill!
He began composing at seven and gave public performances when twelve, but by the age of sixteen he had descended into full blown alcoholism. He disappeared from the public eye only to emerge at age twenty-two as the violinist to end all violinists. Paganini was capable of playing three octaves across four strings in a hand span, a nearly impossible feat, even by today’s standards.
Paganini, was always dressed in black, dancing frantically whilst performing and having what one might call, a cadaverous physique (extremely tall and thin, coupled with pale skin, unnaturally long fingers and hollowed out eyes), did not make it easy on himself. “Flaming eyes” and “thin lips that held a sardonic smile”, was what his contemporaries described him like.
His deviant behavior coupled with a repertoire that would not be out of place in today’s left-field music, (his 1829 Berlin concert was billed “Hexentanz - Witches' Dance”), plus the fact that he turned away the priest that came to give him the last rites, made the local churches initially refuse to give Paganini a Christian burial and accept his body into consecrated ground.
Paganini’s remains proved to have quite an adventurous afterlife as they have been twice embalmed, moved to 10 different locations, and have had a total of 6 burials. So you know what they say: There is no rest for the wicked ones….
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