Journal articles on the topic 'Niccolò Paganini'

The article analyzes the features of formation of instrumental performance of the romantic period and the main factors of this process revealed on the example of Niccolo Paganini’s violin work. The methodological basis of the article is a comprehensive review based on historical-theoretical and music-performing approaches to the research of the stated problems. The main methods of work are historical-comparative, structural-functional and theoretical generalization. The main principles of performance and repertoire of the Italian violinist are determined. The influence of the Italian maestro on the performing arts of prominent representatives of musical romanticism – H. Berlioz, K. Lipinsky, F. Liszt, F. Chopin, R. Schumann and others – is defined.

If there is a single narrative that captures the modern understanding of transformative crossroads magic it is the spurious fable of the selling of Robert Johnson's soul. When, in the palaeoanthropology of 20th century rock and roll music, the biographers of the short-lived blues legend claimed that he had been down to the Dockery Plantation crossroads at midnight to sell his soul to the Devil in exchange for guitar skills, they were perhaps unwitting witnesses to the deep history of myth and ritual that has long been associated with the transformative space of the crossroads. They were not lacking in foresight, however, about the way in which such a claim would enhance their subject's credibility. The value of such a sulphurous reputation for a musician is not merely a recent phenomenon but also has historical precedents. A hundred years before Johnson (who lived 1911–1938), the guitarist and violinist Niccolo Paganini (1782–1840) was considered such a suspiciously devilish virtuoso that his audiences were reputed to cross themselves before his concerts in hope of protection from subtle demonic influence. One audience member even fled a concert after reporting seeing the Devil himself aiding Paganini's performance. Going a little further back, Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770) explained of his best-known sonata, The Devil's Trill (1713), that he had ‘written down the piece after waking from a particularly vivid dream of the Devil playing a violin with ferocious virtuosity’, and claimed that it was ‘but a shadow of what he had witnessed in the dream, for he was unable to capture on the page the Devil's full intensity’. His long career was certainly not harmed by this youthful excursion into Hell.

Background. From the era of romanticism to the present day there is a stable interest of world-renowned virtuoso musicians to such kind of creativity as transcription, which makes it possible to speak not only as a performer, but also to express themselves in the composer’s perspective. Many prominent pianists of different eras have made a significant contribution to this branch of musical art, we need only recall the names of F. Liszt, K. Tausig G. von Bulow, F. Busoni, L. Godowsky, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould. Among artists of our time, it should be noted the Canadian piano virtuoso and composer Marc-Andre Hamelin, for which transcriptions are characterized by a harmonious combination of technical complications and modernization of the selected thematic material, which provides his music a wide audience. A striking confirmation of this are the thousands of views of his transcriptions on the channel in YouTube. Perhaps one of the secrets of such popularity is not only the actualization of the musical language of the original, but also The article is devoted to the specifics of the ironic, as one of the manifestations of the comic, in creative heritage of the world-famous Canadian pianist and composer Marc-André Hamelin On material Of “Variations on a Theme of Paganini”, which are the most illustrative example in this perspective, the features of the artist’s work with a quote thematic material. Identifies certain dominants of the composer’s style, among them: the destruction elected canons, their modification and approach to the aesthetics of the modern world perception through the use of the musical language of the XX–XXI centuries, as well as the desire for harmonious unification, combining styles of different eras within one work. Objectives. The object of research is a musical composition; its subject of research is the identification of the specifics of the irony in the composer’s style. The purpose of the article is to consider the trends of manifestation of irony and the stylistic orientations in the composer’s work of Hamelin, referring to the most indicative in this aspect of the work “Variations on a Theme of Paganini”. Methodology. Structural-functional and genre-style methods are applied in the consideration of the compositional and stylistic specificity of “Variations on a Theme of Paganini”. To identify the peculiarities of the composer’s work with quotations, the method of comparative analysis was used. The methodological basis consists of the concepts of postmodern citation put forward by such leading researchers and representatives of postmodernism as Umberto Eco and Sigmund Bauman. Presenting the main material. The figure of Niccolo Paganini, enveloped in a mysterious halo, attracted the attention of contemporaries and many artists of subsequent generations, and his creative heritage found a significant response in the musical environment. One of the most famous works of N. Paganini has a cycle “Twenty-four capris” for solo violin, among which the most frequently used for a variety of composer’s interpretations was the theme of Caprice No. 24. Interesting is the fact that it remains relevant, continuing even in the twenty-first century to attract attention. A striking example of this is the Hamelin’s “Variations on a Theme of Paganini” (2011). This work, written for solo piano, is a dedication to the American composer, pianist, conductor, teacher Yehud Weiner and his wife Susan Dewen-Weiner. In his interpretation of Caprice 24, the composer chooses a free interpretation of his figurative and substantial side. This is evidenced not only by the increase in the number of variations (14 instead of 11), but also many other aspects that appear at different levels of composition of the whole. It turns out the specificity of the composer’s work with the quote material, which permeates the whole work, the tendency to its ironic interpretation, as well as harmonious coexistence within the work of styles of different eras, their combination. Results. This work is one of the most striking embodiments of the ironic in the work of the Canadian artist. Here is typical for his style work with the used material quote, the basis of which – the destruction of the selected sample, bringing atypical for the original harmonic, melodic, rhythmic turns. Most often such “curvature” is used at the first posted quote topics. The composer tends to synthesize several styles within the framework of the work, this is often achieved by combining one of the styles of past eras with the styles of modernity, while not contrasting, isolating, contrasting them, but creating a melodic, tonal-harmonic and compositional integrity. Conclusion. Hamelin’s “Variations on a Theme of Paganini” represent a vivid manifestation of the ideas of postmodern worldview in music, which is based on the ironic attitude to the sample of the past.

Musical artists in the 1830s were intrigued by Niccolò Paganini, with pianists being especially interested in transferring his music and style to their instrument. This article focuses on Paganini-inspired compositions by Carl Czerny, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and Ignaz Moscheles, which focus on various aspects of the violinist’s artistry, including his performance style, his flair for the dramatic, pathetic, and unexpected, and his technical wizardry. Altogether these and other such works from the early 1830s provide a deeper context — arguably even a tradition — for Franz Liszt’s experimental compositions from the 1830s, particularly the “Clochette” Fantasy and the first version of the “Paganini” Etudes. Not only technically and performatively brilliant, these pieces also help establish the medium of mimesis as artistically valid. Liszt argued that this type of orientation was indispensable for the “artist of the future,” in which “virtuosity is a means, not an end.” Somewhat paradoxically then, after his death Paganini becomes the benchmark by which the transcendent artistry of composer-pianists is measured, and a baseline for further artistic experimentation. Thus Liszt’s return to Paganini in the 1840s and 1850s constitutes an ongoing effort to refine virtuosity in order to bring about artistic unification among musicians, regardless of instrumental specialty.

Serbian music criticism became a subject of professional music critics at the beginning of the twentieth century, after being developed by music amateurs throughout the whole previous century. The Serbian Literary Magazine (1901- 1914, 1920-1941), the forum of the Serbian modernist writers in the early 1900s, had a crucial role in shaping the Serbian music criticism and essayistics of the modern era. The Serbian elite musicians wrote for the SLM and therefore it reflects the most important issues of the early twentieth century Serbian music. The SLM undertook the mission of educating its readers. The music culture of the Serbian public was only recently developed. The public needed an introduction into the most important features of the European music, as well as developing its own taste in music. This paper deals with two aspects of the music criticism in the SLM, in view of its educational role: the problem of virtuosity and the method used by music critics in this magazine. The aesthetic canon of the SLM was marked by decisively negative attitude towards the virtuosity. Mainly concerned by educating the Serbian music public in the spirit of the highest music achievements in Europe, the music writers of the SLM criticized both domestic and foreign performers who favoured virtuosity over the 'essence' of music. Therefore, Niccol? Paganini, Franz Liszt, and even Peter Tchaikowsky with his Violin concerto became the subject of the magazine's criticism. However their attitude towards the interpreters with both musicality and virtuoso technique was always positive. That was evident in the writings on Jan Kubel?k. This educational mission also had its effect on the structure of critique writings in the SLM. In their wish to inform the Serbian public on the European music (which they did very professionally), the critics gave much more information on biographies, bibliographies and style of the European composers, than they valued the interpretation itself. That was by far the weakest aspect of music criticism in the SLM. Although the music criticism in the SLM was professional and analytic one, it often used the literary style and sometimes even profane expressions in describing the artistic value and performance, more than it was necessary for the genre of music criticism. The music critics of the SLM set high aesthetic standards before the Serbian music public, and therefore the virtuosity was rejected by them. At the same time, these highly professional critics did not possess a certain level of introspection that would allow them to abstain from using sometimes empty and unconvincing phrases instead of exact formulations suitable for the professional music criticism. In that respect, music critics in the SLM did not match the standards they themselves set before both the performers and the public in Serbia.

Objectives Tertiary syphilis represents an advanced stage of infection with treponema pallidum and was an endemic problem in pre-penicillin society. The disease was easily contracted and transmitted in all walks of life and the small coterie of European classical music composers was no exception. We wished to identify those artists of the genre who suffered from Treponema pallidum infection and establish potential effects of the disease on their musical output and career. Methods We reviewed contemporary accounts and secondary source biographic information of known syphilitics who wrote and performed in the mid to late 19th century, the period normally referred to as that of ‘classic music. We correlated known medical features of Treponema pallidum infection, and its therapy, with their potential effects on composer creative output. Results We found that seven composers of the 19th century suffered from the physical stigmata of Treponema pallidum infection as well as familial and social stigmatization. Tertiary infection, and its neuro-psychiatric consequences, appears to have been directly related to premature death (e.g. Franz Schubert died at the age of 31); suicidal ideation and/or major depressive disorders (Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, Bedrich Smetana); persecutory manic bipolar disease (Gaetano Donizetti); blindness (Frederick Delius); and mercury-induced laryngoplegia (Niccolò Paganini). Conclusions Syphilis has been a fatal disease through ages and among its victims, authors and artists died with symptoms of mental deterioration due to neurosyphilis. The influence of the disease upon their last works can be traced especially in the case of composers, as hallucinations and horrors and psychological conflicts are reflected in their music.the need for a journal wholly dedicated to the history of urology.