Did Paganini Really Sell His Soul to the Devil? The Truth About the Violin's First Superstar

No, Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840) did not sell his soul to the devil. That was a rumour, but it was so widespread that when he died, the Church refused him a Catholic burial in Genoa partly because of his "widely rumored association with the devil". The real explanation for his seemingly impossible playing is less supernatural and more interesting: years of intense training, unusually long fingers, a showman's instinct and music he wrote to push the violin to its limits. He was, in effect, the first international superstar of the violin.

A boy from Genoa with a mandolin

Paganini was born on 27 October 1782 in Genoa, then the capital of the Republic of Genoa, the third of six children. His father, Antonio, was an unsuccessful ship chandler who also worked as a musician and sold mandolins.

Niccolò began on the mandolin at five and switched to the violin at about seven. He won several scholarships and quickly outgrew his local teachers. In Parma he was sent from one master to the next: Alessandro Rolla referred him to Ferdinando Paer, who referred him to Gasparo Ghiretti. Even the professionals seemed unsure what to do with him.

He also became an excellent guitarist, and later called the guitar his "constant companion" on tour.

Court violinist, gambler and freelancer

In 1801, at 18, Paganini was appointed first violin of the Republic of Lucca, though much of his income came from freelance work. In 1805 Lucca passed to Napoleon's sister Elisa Bonaparte, and Paganini joined her court, giving violin lessons to her husband Felice Baciocchi. He left at the end of 1809 to go freelance again.

His private life was as restless as his music. Biographers describe the young Paganini as a gambler and a philanderer. Those habits, combined with his dramatic stage presence, helped build the dark reputation that would follow him.

The violin called "The Cannon"

One of the best stories about Paganini involves his instrument. As a teenager in Livorno, he borrowed a violin made by Giuseppe Guarneri from a wealthy businessman named Livron for a concert. Livron was so impressed by the performance that he refused to take it back.

That violin became known as Il Cannone, "The Cannon", because of its powerful sound. Paganini collected many fine instruments; when he died he owned 11 Stradivari among others.

The 24 Caprices: a textbook of the impossible

Paganini's most influential works are his 24 Caprices for solo violin. He wrote them in groups between 1802 and 1817, and Ricordi published them in 1820 as his Op. 1. Instead of dedicating them to a patron, he dedicated them "alli artisti", to the artists.

Each caprice focuses on a different technical challenge: double stops, ricochet bowing, trills, fast leaps across strings and positions, and, in No. 24, left-hand pizzicato and passages in octaves and tenths. One of them, No. 13, even carries the nickname "The Devil's Laughter". His exceptionally long fingers reportedly allowed him to play three octaves across four strings within a single hand span.

From La Scala to the whole of Europe

Paganini's breakthrough came with a concert at La Scala in Milan in 1813. In 1827 Pope Leo XII awarded him the Order of the Golden Spur. The next year he began a great European tour in Vienna in August 1828, moving through German, Polish and Bohemian cities until February 1831, then on to Paris and Britain.

In Paris in 1833 he met Hector Berlioz and commissioned a work for viola, Harold en Italie. Paganini was not satisfied with it and did not perform it; it was premiered a year later by another violist. He ended his concert career in September 1834.

Illness, a failed casino and a long journey to the grave

Behind the glamour, his health was poor. By 1822 he had been diagnosed with syphilis, and his treatment with mercury and opium caused serious physical and psychological side effects. Some modern writers have suggested that a condition such as Marfan syndrome or Ehlers–Danlos syndrome explained his flexibility, but there is no definite medical proof.

In 1836 he invested in a casino in Paris, which failed almost at once and left him in financial ruin; he had to auction personal effects, including instruments, to cover his losses. In May 1840, in Nice, he refused the last rites, believing them premature, and died on 27 May from internal bleeding before a priest could be called.

This is where the devil rumour did its real damage. The Church denied him burial in Genoa, and it took four years and an appeal to the Pope before his body could even be moved there. He was finally buried in Parma in 1876 and moved to a new cemetery in Parma in 1896.

A theme that every composer wanted

Paganini's music lived on through other composers. Franz Liszt turned five caprices and La Campanella into his Grandes Études de Paganini, and Robert Schumann wrote two sets of studies on the caprices. Above all, the theme of Caprice No. 24 inspired Brahms's Variations on a Theme of Paganini and Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini of 1934. Two centuries later, the "devil's violinist" is still the yardstick every violin virtuoso is measured against.

Learn with Paganini: English phrases about skill and reputation

Phrase	Meaning	Example
to push something to its limits	to use something as far as it can go	Paganini pushed the violin to its limits.
to have a reputation for something	to be known for a quality	He had a reputation for gambling.
rumour has it that...	people say, but it may not be true	Rumour has it that he made a deal with the devil.
to steal the spotlight	to get all the attention	Wherever he played, he stole the spotlight.
to set the bar high	to create a high standard	His caprices set the bar high for every violinist.

Try this: Write three English sentences about a famous person and a rumour about them. Start one sentence with "Rumour has it that..." and say whether you believe it.