Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) was an Italian violinist and composer, whose virtuosity on his instrument has become legendary, partly due to carefully cultivated mysteries about his personality.

At the age of eleven he first acted as a violinist, after having received music lessons from his father and lessons on both guitar and violin. From 1797 he traveled through Europe and performed in Vienna and Paris, among others. His fame grew because of this. In 1831 he went on tour in England for the first time.

Many people believed that Paganini was a "devil violinist." Paganini strengthened the legends by playing in cemeteries for the dead at night. He also had the habit of painting his face white for a concert in order to appeal even more to the imagination as a highly romantic suffering artist. A mysterious illness caused even more mystification around his person. Although there is no medical certainty about it, it is believed that he suffered from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or Marfan syndrome. This explains the very long fingers (arachnodactylia) and the elastic connective tissue that enabled him to exercise extreme virtuosity in violin playing.

Niccolò Paganini

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