Nicolo Paganini: His Life and Work Part 8

In view of the question I wish to raise, I hope the reader will pardon this digression. Paganini sometimes played pieces by Kreutzer and Rode, but I have not been able to find evidence of his acquaintance with the concertos of Viotti. The reason may not be far to seek. Paganini remained in Italy until 1828; Viotti, born in Italy, left his country, and only once returned to it--in 1783, and that for a very short time.

His long residence in Paris led to his being identified with the French School of violinists. His works were played by other performers during his life-time, but it is questionable whether they were known to Paganini. What I want to ask is simply this:--upon what work, or whose work, was Paganini's first concerto modelled? It was written in 1811, according to the _Musical World_ (Vol. for 1851, p. 822), or in 1820 according to the "Oxford History of Music" (Vol. VI., p. 225). The form of the work will be dealt with later; here the question is one of instrumentation. Berlioz wrote: "It was said of Weber, 'He is a meteor!'

With equal justice it may be said of Paganini, 'He is a comet!'" I would paraphrase Berlioz and say Paganini's First Concerto came upon the world as a comet--a comet with a most portentous tail! Paganini was the Richard Strauss of his day. Fancy, in the scoring of a concerto, trombones, double-ba.s.soon, cymbals, and ba.s.s-drum! and that in the year 1811, possibly. Why, it only requires a few more horns and trumpets, some tubas, a rattle and other percussion instruments, to come up to the latest twentieth century scoring. But a truce to badinage. A big score, of itself, is not necessarily a thing to be praised; however, Paganini's full scoring never obscured the solo part, and that is more than can be said of some violin concertos of later date. I do not pretend to a knowledge of the whole of the literature for the violin, but I have heard much of it; yet I can recall no violin concerto going beyond the orchestral resources adopted by Beethoven in his work, of earlier date than Paganini's first concerto. I have further to confess that I have never seen an original score of any of Paganini's works, but I have written out a score from what I believe to be authentic band parts. I have heard the First Concerto, "reduced to one act," with the exordium cut out; and however much such a rendering may be in accordance with modern taste, I can only regard it as unjust to the composer. In the present day Paganini's music is looked upon with pity not far removed from scorn; how did his contemporaries esteem it?

Rossini is reported to have said: "Truly, it is fortunate that Paganini did not devote himself exclusively to lyric composition; he would have become a very dangerous rival."[52] Moscheles wrote: "His concertos are beautiful, and have even their grand moments; but they remind me of a brilliant firework on a summer's eve, one flash succeeding the other--effective, admirable--but always the same. His 'Sonate Militaire,' and other pieces, have a southern glow about them, but this hero of the violin cannot dispense with the roll of the drum; and completely as he may annihilate his less showy colleagues, I long for a little of Spohr's earnestness, Baillot's power, and even Mayseder's piquancy."

Very little was said of Paganini's compositions--I mean by way of description, orchestration, or even criticism--when the composer was in England. The writers seemed always engrossed and absorbed by the performance and personality of the man.

Schumann repeats what was said of Paganini; that he, himself, rated his merit as a composer more highly than his talent as a _virtuoso_. We know that Rubinstein desired to have his name handed down to posterity as a composer rather than as a pianist. The fates have been unkind to both.

To return to Schumann. He remarks that "if general opinion has not, until now, agreed with him (Paganini), it must at least be allowed that his compositions contain many pure and precious qualities, worthy of being firmly fixed in the richer setting required by the pianoforte." This of course referred to the caprices, Op. 1, but the observation is a curious ill.u.s.tration of the way in which individual minds regard things from their own standpoint.

Paganini's music appealed to Liszt as a means of creating a new school of pianoforte technique, as well as composition; very little can be gleaned from Liszt as to his aesthetic views regarding it. Fetis says great worth is revealed in the compositions of Paganini, as much by the novelty of the ideas as by the elegance of the form, the richness of the harmony, and the effects of the instrumentation. These qualities shine above all in the concertos; but, he adds, these works require the magic of his talent to produce the effect he intended. Berlioz was, perhaps, the most appreciative of Paganini's contemporaries. In his _Soirees de l'Orchestre_ he says: "A volume might be written in telling all that Paganini has created in his works of novel effect, ingenious contrivances, n.o.ble and grandiose forms, and orchestral combinations unknown before his time. His melodies are broad Italian melodies, but full of a pa.s.sionate ardour seldom found in the best pages of dramatic composers of his country. His harmonics are always clear, simple, and of extraordinary sonorousness. His orchestration is brilliant and energetic, without being noisy. He often introduces the ba.s.s drum into his _tutti_ with unusual intelligence."

During Paganini's lifetime no one else seems to have played his music, although one of his imitators is said to have reproduced some pieces from memory. After Paganini's death, the propagandist of his works was his nephew and pupil, Ernesto Camillo Sivori. He made his debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Concerts, October 3, 1841, and a week later introduced there Paganini's Variations on the Prayer from _Mose in Egitto_. In all, some dozen pieces by Paganini were given at those famous concerts from 1841 to 1876. Sivori also introduced Paganini to the then very conservative concerts of the Philharmonic Society, London, in 1844. But they did strange things in those days. The first movement of the Concerto in B minor was included in the first part of the concert on April 29, 1844; the Adagio and Rondo coming in the middle of the second part! Poor Sivori had to submit to similar treatment of his own concerto at the Society's concerts in 1845. It would be interesting to know how Paganini's music fared at the concerts of the Paris Conservatoire, but I have not been able to procure any reliable data relating to the subject.

Rumour was long busy with the project entertained by Paganini's son, the Baron Achilles, of publishing a complete edition of the compositions of the great violinist; and in 1887 a paragraph in the _Athenaeum_ announced on apparently good authority that the Baron was preparing for immediate publication the whole of the works of his father which still remained in ma.n.u.script. Several of those were named, but nothing more has been heard of the undertaking. I have scrutinised the musical press from that date to the present time, and have failed to gather any further information on the subject.

From every available source I have compiled the following list of Paganini's compositions:--

Op. 1. Twenty-four Capriccios, for violin alone.

Op. 2. Six Sonatas, for violin and guitar.

Op. 3. Six Sonatas, for violin and guitar.

Op. 4. Three Grand Quartets, for violin, viola, violoncello and guitar.

Op. 5. Three Grand Quartets, for the same.

Op. 6. Concerto, No. 1, in E flat (D), for violin and orchestra.

Op. 7. Concerto, No. 2, in B minor, for the same.

Op. 8. "Le Streghe." Introduction and Variations.

Op. 9. "G.o.d Save the King." Variations.

Op. 10. "Carnaval de Venise." Variations.

Op. 11. "Allegro de Concert." "Moto Perpetuo."

Op. 12. "Non piu mesta." Introduction and Variations.

Op. 13. "Di tanti palpiti." Introduction and Variations.

_All for violin and orchestra._

Op. 14. Sixty Studies in Variation form, on the Air "Barucaba," for violin alone.

_Works without Opus number._

Sonata in A, for violin, with accompaniment of violin and violoncello.

Bravura Variations on a theme from Rossini's "Moses in Egypt," for violin and string quartet, or pianoforte.

Bravura Variations on an Original Theme, for violin and guitar, or pianoforte.

Introduction and Variations on the Theme, "Nel cor piu non mi sento," for violin alone.

Duo in C major, for one violin. Solo.

Recitative and Variations, on Three Airs, for the fourth string.

"Le Charme de Padua," Divertiss.e.m.e.nt, for violin and pianoforte.

_Works that are unpublished, or that have been lost._

Concertos in D minor, E minor, E major.

Concerto in two movements. Violin and orchestra.

Four Concertos, the scoring unfinished.

Concerto, for ba.s.soon, with string trio accompaniment.

Nine Quartets, for violin, viola, violoncello and guitar.

Fantasia. Violin and orchestra.

Dramatic Sonata, "The Storm," for the same.

Military Sonata on Mozart's "Non piu andrai."

Napoleon Sonata for the fourth string.

Sonata on a Theme by Haydn. Ditto.

Sonata di un Canto Appa.s.sionata, e variazioni sopra un Tema Marziale. Ditto.

Sonata with variations on a Theme from Jos. Weigl's "L'Amor Marinaro."

Sonata Amorosa Galante, e Tema con variazioni.

Sonata for viola and orchestra.

Sonata Sentimentale.

Sonata, "Varsovie."