Composers of the Zodiac: Tropic of Scorpio

by Georg Predota, Interlude

Constellation of Scorpio

The constellation of Scorpio is associated with a number of myths. In one version rooted in Greek mythology, the legendary hunter Orion boasted to the goddess Artemis that he would kill every animal on Earth. Insulted by Orion’s excessive pride, Artemis sent a scorpion to kill Orion. Their heroic battle caught the attention of Zeus, who raised both combatants to the sky to serve as a stern reminder for mortals.

“Scorpio”, plate 23 in Urania’s Mirror
by Jehoshaphat Aspin

To this day, when Scorpio rules the night sky—from about October 23 to November 21—Orion goes away. It has been said the Scorpio is one of the most misunderstood signs of the zodiac. Because of its incredible passion and power, Scorpio is often mistaken for a fire sign. In fact, Scorpio is a water sign that derives its strength from the psychic and emotional realm. Extremely clairvoyant and intuitive, individuals born under the sign of Scorpio are imaginative and intense. They are ruled by Pluto (god of the Underworld) and Mars (god of War), and always know what they want and how to get it. Composer and pianist Roderick Elms, who for many years was the London pianist to cellist Mstislav Rostropovich as well as organist to the London Symphony Orchestra, provides his musical take on this powerful astrological sign.

Georges Bizet

Georges Bizet

Born on 25 October, Georges Bizet was a brilliant student at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning a great number of prizes including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. Once he had returned to Paris after almost 3 years in Italy, he quickly found out that his music was not in demand. In the true spirit of a Scorpio, Bizet was nevertheless determined to orchestrate a career in music. His intentions weren’t necessarily nefarious, he simply knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to work hard to realize his ambitions. He was greatly optimistic about the premiere performance of his opera Carmen on 3 March 1875. In the event, it turned into a veritable disaster. The opera was on the verge of being withdrawn, and it has been suggested that the theater had to give away free tickets in order to boost attendance. Bizet, unfortunately died a mere three months after the premiere, and it is suspected that the negative reception contributed to his fatal heart attack. As a biographer wrote, “The spectacle of great works unwritten either because Bizet had other distractions… or because of his premature death, is infinitely dispiriting, yet the brilliance and the individuality of his best music is unmistakable.”

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

Born on 14 November, Aaron Copland had a gift for natural leadership, and a great talent for management in all walks of life. On the outside, he displayed a deep calm while his true feelings were hidden deep within. Sensitive to the feelings of others, he displayed the greatest tact in all social interactions. Copland had a thorough understanding of the material world, and he clearly knew that his power and influence must be used for the benefit of mankind. And like a true Scorpio, he had the ability to inspire people and direct them to become part of his vision. Copland was a meticulous and hard worker, but he was easy going in almost all social situations. Realism was part of his nature as he dressed simply, yet he remained mysterious and sensitive. Copland easily bounced back from professional and personal failures, and true to his zodiac, he was wisely assertive throughout his life and in his music.

Johann Strauss 

Johann Strauss II

Seductive and beguiling, Scorpio is the sign most closely associated with sex. Sex isn’t solely about pleasure for the sensual scorpions, as they also crave the physical closeness, spiritual illumination, and the emotional intimacy that sex can provide. Well, Johann Strauss II, born on 25 October, certainly wasn’t shy when it came to sexual adventures. Like any good son, he initially tried to outdo his father in all aspect of life, particularly in music and sexual promiscuity. He mesmerized Viennese audiences, and in a blatant repeat of history, Vienna’s female population would swoon at the mere mention of his name. His popularity with the ladies got him into serious trouble, as on more than one occasion, jealous husbands challenged him to duels, and once he even had to seek refuge in the Austrian Embassy, barely escaping a double-barrel shotgun gently inviting him to marry a young Russian maid. When a planned marriage did not materialize, Strauss bedded dozens of eager groupies. Strauss II eventually did marry the mistress to a high-profile banker, but following her death, he frequented the local bordellos and after seven weeks he was married again. Be that as it may, music and sex definitely ruled the life of this Scorpio.

Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini

Born in Genoa on 27 October, Niccolò Paganini left an irrefutable mark on the history of instrumental music and 19th century social life. He was a born leader with extra-ordinary drive and determination. Once he made up his mind to study the violin and discover new and hitherto unsuspected effects that would astound people, nothing would stand in his way. He became obsessed with fame and money, and his relentless ambition translated into increasingly bizarre behavior. Supposedly, he was once invited to play at a funeral, but interrupted the ceremony with a twenty-minute solo concerto. And I am sure you’ve heard the story of him spending eight days in jail for drugging his girlfriend and forcing the abortion of his child. There was even a rumor that he had murdered a woman, used her intestines as violin strings and imprisoned her soul within the instrument. Women’s screams were supposedly heard from his violin when he performed on stage. Always concerned about appearances and to project success and self-satisfaction, this Scorpio demanded unconditional respect and attention.

La Campanella - Paganini/Liszt

747,288 views Apr 12, 2022

Sofia Ros - Accordion Recorded live at The Drake Calleja Trust Scholars Concert, March 18th 2022, at The Purcell Room, London. Hosted by Matthew Hargreaves. https://www.drakecallejatrust.org The Drake Calleja Trust (registered charity: 1164114) was established in 2015 and is proud to be associated with Joseph Calleja, Patron of the Trust. The Drake Calleja Trust financially supports and nurtures exceptionally talented musicians studying in the UK. Our scholarships are open to solo classical instrumentalists and singers aged 18 and above, with Junior Scholarships for 16-18 year old musicians.

A Recital with A Difference: Yuja Wang’s The Vienna Recital

By Maureen Buja, Interlude

The idea of a recital – a single performer on their own stage, showing the best of themselves – is an old idea. Some Romantic performers, such as Liszt and Paganini, were best known through their recitals. The opportunity to showcase your art, unhampered by any other performer or ensemble, is unparalleled, but also fraught with danger: it’s pure exposure and you have to be up to the task.

Yuja Wang

In her recent recording The Vienna Recital, pianist Yuja Wang turns the original idea of a recital on its head. She does what you expect, with a bit of Beethoven to cover the Classical period, a bit of Brahms for the Romantic period, and a bit of Scriabin for the 20th century but then there’s music by Albéniz, Glass, Scriabin, and Kapustin for some jazz preludes. Delicacy of touch and contrast in styles seem to be the driving force for the assemblage of pieces here and there are some brilliant choices. The juxtaposition of Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2, one of the best-known modern Mexican orchestral pieces, here transcribed for solo piano, with one of Brahms’ Intermezzi, op. 117, seems to move Brahms into the same space where you were just dancing to Márquez’s music.

The selection of the music takes you over a range of centuries – from Gluck to the modern day – and presenting the works in a non-chronological order makes you rethink the details of the works, from harmony to rhythm.

It’s difficult to pick one track that shows how wonderful this album is, but we’ll go with one of the Ligeti Études. Number 13 from Book 2, The Devil’s Staircase, is a toccata of unending movement.

György Ligeti: Book 2, No. 13 – L’escalier du diable

Chinese pianist Yuja Wang (b. 1987) started her studies at age 7 at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing before entering the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia at age 15. Even before her graduation in 2008, she had come to the world’s attention when she replaced Martha Argerich in a series of concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2007. Her performing triumphs continued, today making her one of the leading pianists in the world.

If your idea of a recital is something to be endured with a few gems as a reward, then this recording will change your mind completely – it’s both constantly challenging to the pianist and constantly rewarding to the listener.

YuJa Wang: The Vienna Recital
Deutsche Grammophon 00028948645671

Official Website

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LANG LANG - La Campanella - Liszt/Paganini

Paganini: Violin Concerto No.1

1,592,440 views  Jun 9, 2012  Violinist: Sarah Chang

Conductor: Zubin Mehta 

Berliner Philharmoniker

NICCOLO PAGANINI

Allegro maestoso

from violin concerto No.1 D major op.6

27 October: Niccolò Paganini Is Born

by Georg Predota, Interlude

Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa, then capital of the Republic of Genoa, on 27 October 1782. His father, Antonio Paganini was a dockworker and unsuccessful trader who supplemented his meager income by playing the mandolin for social occasions. Unsurprisingly, under the tutelage of his father, young Niccolò started studying the mandolin at the age of 5. Two years later, he started lessons on the violin, and Paganini recalls, “When I attained my seventh year, my father, whose ear was unmusical but who was nevertheless passionately fond of music, gave me my elementary lessons on the violin; in a very few months, I was able to play all manner of compositions at sight.”

Antoine Watteau: Guitar Technique

In due course Paganini became the most famous violin virtuoso and one of the greatest musicians of all time. Not as well known is the fact, however, that Paganini composed a large number chamber works, mostly with or for guitar. As he pointedly stated, “The violin is my mistress, but the guitar is my master.”

Paganini: Grans Sonata for Guitar

By the turn of the 19th century, the modern six single string guitar had become increasingly common. The instrument had lost much of its communality with the lute, and it gradually morphed into the modern guitar. The sound of the guitar became more powerful, more expressive and its playing techniques, notation and tuition improved. Hector Berlioz, who was a competent guitarist mentioned the instrument in his Grand traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes of 1843, and commented that “it is almost impossible to write well for the guitar without being a player on the instrument.” The instrument was highly prized in aristocratic circles, and it was also used for performances in private homes. We have no conclusive evidence that Paganini took guitar lessons, but he certainly possessed the physical and intellectual skills to master the instrument. As he later told his biographer Julius Schottky, “he very much enjoyed playing the guitar” and he composed well over 100 works for the instrument.

Paganini’s guitar by Gennaro Fabricatore, 1826

Paganini wrote, “I love the guitar for its harmony; it is my constant companion on all my travels.” Seemingly, he would play the guitar alongside the violin, often as a soloist or in duet with the Italian guitarist Luigi Legnani. They met in Genoa in 1835 and did perform a number of concerts together. Legnani was called the “Paganini of the guitar,” and Paganini’s compositions dedicated to him feature brilliant guitar parts discreetly accompanied by simple violin passages. It has been suggested “this feature allowed Paganini and Legnani to swap their instruments in concert in order to perform these works: as a basic violinist, Legnani could easily accompany his friend playing the guitar.” On one occasion, Paganini wrote, “I do not like the guitar, but regard it simply as a way of helping me to think.” This appears to be somewhat of an understatement, as Paganini owned a number of guitars throughout his life. In fact, he refused to sell an instrument by Gennaro Fabricatore even during his period of greatest financial stress, “and it was still among his possessions at the time of his death.”

Guitar owned by Paganini and Berlioz

The Italian publisher Ricordi first advertised two sets of sonatas for violin and guitar and six guitar quartets by Paganini in 1820. Over time, Paganini would compose a further nine quartets combining the violin with the viola, cello and guitar. However, a substantial number of his chamber works featuring the guitar remain unpublished. At one time, the Italian government was offered the entire collection of Paganini’s guitar composition, but they turned down the offer. Only recently have scholars and performers started to explore this hidden repertoire. A scholar writes, “Both violin and guitar are integral parts of Paganini’s unique personality. It is no longer possible to think of one without thinking of the other. The links may not at first be obvious, given that the violin music was for public consumption, with all the superficial display that the public demanded, while the guitar was for music at home among friends. It remains, however, music created by the same man.” There was no such hesitation in London between 1832 and 1834. Paganini had become rather interested in the viola as a solo instrument, and he performed his Terzetto for viola, cello and guitar at a private concert. On that occasion, Felix Mendelssohn played the guitar part on the piano.

Niccolo Paganini was such a gifted violinist ...

... people thought he sold his soul to the devil

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, Classic FM London

Some thought he was a metaphorical musical God, others thought he literally got his virtuosity from a deal with the Devil. But what was the real story behind Niccolò Paganini’s genius?

Born on 27 October 1782 in Genoa, Italy, Niccolò Paganini was an incredibly gifted musician, and is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of all time.

He started playing the mandolin aged five, before taking up the violin aged seven and giving his first public performance aged 11 in Genoa. At the age of just 15, he started playing solo tours.

The 19th century produced a number of extraordinary violinists – but none like Paganini. His talent was so beyond that of his peers that people started to believe he had made a pact with the devil.

It was even rumoured that Paganini’s mother had sold his soul to the devil so he could become the greatest virtuoso in history. 

Here’s the real story.

Aged 13, Paganini was sent to study with famous violinist and teacher, Alessandro Rolla. Rolla quickly saw Paganini’s talent, and decided there was nothing else he could teach him. So, he passed him onto his own teacher, Ferdinando Paer – who later referred him to his teacher, Gasparo Ghiretti.

The young Paganini was clearly a child prodigy. But when 15-year-old Paganini embarked on solo tours, he had a breakdown and turned to alcoholism.

Niccolò Paganini – or not. This is a famous fake daguerreotype (early photograph) of the violinist. Picture: Getty

The violinist’s fame slowly turned him into a heavy gambler, drinker and a serial womaniser. A rumour even spread that Paganini had murdered a woman, used her intestines as violin strings and imprisoned her soul within the instrument. Women’s screams were said to be heard from his violin when he performed on stage.

One thing was for sure: Paganini’s skill on the violin was unparalleled. He was one of the first solo violinists to perform publicly without sheet music, choosing instead to memorise everything.

Known particularly for his fiendish 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Paganini helped popularise certain string techniques such as bow bounces – spiccato – as well as left-hand pizzicato and harmonics. He also purposely mistuned strings to make certain pieces easier to play.

It is said he could play 12 notes per second – a feat later achieved by violinist David Garrett, who plays Paganini in The Devil’s Violinist, a 2013 film based on the composer’s life story.

The Devil incarnate

Paganini was a striking man with hollow cheeks, pale skin and thin lips. He was very tall and thin, and often dressed in black.

He also had very long, thin fingers and without the restriction of performing with sheet music, he flailed about on stage, earning him the nickname ‘Rubber man’.

It is now believed that Paganini’s unusual finger length, which allowed him to play three octaves in one hand span, was due to Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder. Equally, his ability to play at incredible speed could be attributed to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a disorder which causes joint hypermobility.

The violin was also regarded by some as the devil's instrument, so all in all, it's not surprising that rumours about a deal with the devil started circulating. Some even thought Paganini could be the Devil himself.

One of the first rumours came out of a concert in Vienna, where one audience member said they thought they had seen the devil helping Paganini play. People soon began claiming to have doppelgängers of Paganini with horns and hooves.

It was even said that the Devil once made lightning strike the end of Paganini’s bow during a performance.

A replica of Paganini's hand. Picture: Getty

How did Paganini die?

Paganini was sickly for much of his later life. He contracted syphilis in 1822, which was treated with mercury, leading to further health problems.

In 1834, he caught tuberculosis and recovered shortly after. But later that year, he found himself getting weaker and decided to retire from public performance, aged 54, and spent his last years teaching the violin.

Paganini died of larynx cancer on 27 May, 1840 in Nice, France. Before his death, he turned away a priest offering him last rites, the final prayers Catholics receive at the end of their lives.

Paganini said he turned the priest away was because he thought he wasn’t going to die – but those who believed he was in league with the devil didn’t buy this explanation.

Niccolò Paganini with his violin. Picture: Getty

A week later, Paganini died without receiving the last rites and his local church refused to bury his body on consecrated ground – even though he was a member of the Order of the Golden Spur.

Over the next four years, his corpse would be transported on an extraordinary tour of Europe. His embalmed body was left on his deathbed in Nice for two months, before it was transferred to the cellar of the house, where it remained for over a year.

After his local church refused to bury him, his body was later taken to an abandoned leper house, before being moved to a cement vat in an olive oil factory and later to a private house near Nice.

Almost four years after his death, Pope Gregory XVI allowed the violinist’s body to be transported to Genoa, and he was finally laid to rest in La Villetta Cemetery in Parma, Italy – some 200km from his birthplace in Genoa.

Niccolo Paganini - His Life and Music

Niccolo Paganini was born in October 27, 1782 in Genoa/Italy and passed away in Nice/France on May 27, 1840. His strict father, a sales manager, expected him a daily eight-hours-training on a violin and mandolin.

In 1798, the father escaped because of the begotten mother. It's difficult to decide, while reading different encyclopedias and a published biography of Paganini, which are reality and legend regarding his life. 

The decline of the tradition of instrumental music in Italy during the 19th century, the first signs of which had appeared late in the previous century, resulted from a number of related and complex events: the dispersion of Italy's leading composers throughout Europe, the gradual and unrelenting decline of Italian orchestras and, most importantly, the evolution and spread of the operatic style. 

Whereas instrumental music on German Romanticism assumed a completely autonomous and dominant position, Italian composers felt more and more captive to the wiles of opera, gradually abandoning  thematic elaboration and a classical sense of form for a dramatic stage style.

The nature of the 19th century concerto is inseparable from the idea of virtuosity. The new audiences and institutions that promoted popular concerts contributed to the transformation of the musician into an actor. It is within the framework that one must consider the violin concertos by Niccolo Paganini, the violin virtuoso who mesmerized such as Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms.

Paganini elevated the dying tradition of improvisation to a transcendental level with his dazzling performances,a and, he gave rise to a star worship comparable to that which vocalists enjoyed, colored, however, by a "demonic" aspect unique to instrumental music. In fact, Paganini's concertos for violin show strong ties to operatic tradition in the form of numerous Rossini-like cadenzas - something in common to most Italian instrumental music of that time.

The "Concerto or Violin in d-major", composed in 1817-18 (an earlier concerto was dated 1815), gives wonderful expression to the musical charm of this epoch. From a convential and rather superficial point of view, it anticipates the 19th century tradition. The central "Adagio espressivo" transforms operatic elements of an aria to a moving and personal romance, modest, yet dignified. 

The "Concerto for Violin No. 4 in d-minor", composed in 1829-30 and first performed in Frankfurt/Main on the 16th April 1830 (and revived by Gallini in Paris in 1954!), displays a pronounced balance between melody and virtuosity.

Pagaini's play, many times, was described as "devil's play". He composed many pieces for the g-string, maybe, because during many performances his violin strings have been cut because of this "devil's play"... .

His sonatas and compositions for guitars have been forgotten since long, even wonderful to be listening. I am glad, I still have some pieces in my music library... .