The Yazoo Democrat. [volume] (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1858-18??, 1859-01-01
PAGANINI.

the shades of the great who have gone before,
and to bring them into strong contrast with
the present, in order that the new man. Of the
lnew world, may measure his moral and intel
ectual stature with the Newtons and the Mil
tons, and other representative men Of de-
parted time, and thereby compute his own
advancement or retrogradation.
The violin is admitted to be the most power
ful and expressive of instruments, and Paga-
mini, its world renowned master. This magical
man, whom every sweet and fantastic sound
obeyed-who played with mems hearts as with
the strings of his own instrument-was the
forerunner of Ole Bull, Vieuxtemps, Sivori,
and that prodigy, Paul Julien His Witches
Dance" is rated by musicians as the most un-
earthly and fantastic of compositions, and his
performances on one string threatened, at one
time, to sell the whole world crazy. No vo-
linist, since his time, has ever possessed that
mysterious power which Paganini so wonder
fully displayed Audiences have wearIed with
Ole Bnll, but from all accounts, there was a
fascination, in the preliminary strokes Of Pag-
anni's bow, which acted upon old and young
like magic. No musician has been known 10
throw down his instrument in despair in the
presence Of any Of the great masters of our day,
but whole orchestras in the presence of Pqga-
mini, have refused TO play note. The first
appearance of this great performer in London
was an epoch in the musical world 1t was on
the third of June, 1884, An eye witness thus
describes his third appearance in that city at the
Kings Opera
"After an overture performed by the orches-
ira, the curtain was drawnup and the magician
Of the evening made his appearance alone on
the stage His figure was truly remarkable
and his long straight hair, which hung down on
his shoulders, gave strange and almost un-
earthly expression to his lank visage, in which
The two little dark eyes sparked like meteors
Nothing could be more awkward than his ap.
pearauce as he came on bowling sideways till he
reached the middle of the stage There he
Istood for minu,e bowling in the most ungainly
manner to the reiterated plaudits Of the i'm
mense audience. Presently he raised bis violin
as if abou; to commence, and Immediately the
lproar subsided into deathlike Stiffness But
something was wrong; SO down came the vio-
: lin, and he very deliberately took out cambriC
D pocket handkerchief and wiped bis fingers, al
+ the same time "grinning horribly a ghastly
smile, as if amused at the dissppoin tment OF
the auden e, who only cheered him the more
: enthusiastically. Again the violin was raised
the cheering hushed, aud the first sound was
heard from that magical bow Such tones we
never heard from voice or instrument before
the violin seemed to lose its peculiar character
a,1d to assume another not less peculiar, buj
0 infinitely more varied and powerful Passage:
6 Of uncomfortable rapidity seemed to glide from
\ the bow, and the very scale of music seemed tc
grow larger; we knew not till we heard him
. that its compass was so wide. At times he
! appeared absolutely to be sporting with the
feelings of his audience from some disnn~
gun;hable and pleasant melody. he would glide
, gradually into chromalic passages which grew
G By degrees mere complicated and horrible Till
5 just as the sounds were becoming too painful
for endurance, he would suddenly moduate into
the rnost soothing and heavenly strains that the
ear aver listened to- When he PLAYED upon one
string the effect was the same, The difficulty
of the execution can be best appreciated by the
greatest prOfcients on the instrument. We
! have never met with any exhibition which SO
completely realized our notion of magical iuAu
ence ps this; il seemed as if tile violin must
be isnpired BY superhum4n power and we are
, willing 10 confess that all our superstition was
: excited when we saw this unearthly looking
being before US, and heard sounds such as we
never conceived of before, and such as no other
: mortal in the world was capable of producing
: 1t was announced on the programme that the
: concert would close with a 'Sinlonia' by the
/ full orchestra and this was attempted, but in
vain tfit
"After Paganini the performance even oI
the most admirable players seemed tame and
fat the audience would not listen to it, they
were noisy, calling loudly for Paganini, and
the players of the orchestra threw down their
A instruments and retired"
/, Many coDiectures have been made with regard
S to the secret which enabled this great perform
d er to go so entirely beyond all other masters
/ of the violin Certain il is, that all other
musicians sink into insignifcance before him.
; The weird man possessed spell over his in
J strument which no man, before or since, has
been able to command. His style was as pecu-
liar as his physique, and there was nothing on
earth which SO much fesembled Paganini's mu-
:, sic as Pagannl's self. One can but smile to
think that after all music had more effect upon
. the man upon music, for cotemporafics affirm,
4 that poor Paganini's body was as grolesque as
any OF his own airy creations. And really
! it does see m, that the same law which induces
the waxen flower to raise its tiny cup for a
dranght Of dew or sunshine, or rain induced
the contortions of Paganini's body in order to
s accommodate, OF the better to receive, the
draughts Of unearlhly melody which sustained
! his being. Lablache, the great basso profundo,
D Of the Conservatory of Paris, was built up
like bass drum. He was the largest man in
!, the musical world, and had the largest voice
+ Then, there is that charming boy, Paul Julien,
who lays his slender hand upoh that q fretfuI
instrument" the violin, and behold music
gambcls forth like an elfn sprite on mid
summers night. Coming like
M "The sweet south III
: That breathes upon bank of yiolets,
q Stealing and giving odor."
, But not so, came the music from Paganini's
. bow. The violin in his hands. was anything
: be chose to make it., The clearest and most
liquid notes OF the Hageoet. he brought forth
! from 1.-THE cry Of wild beasts-the warbling
!, Of myriads Of birds--exclamation Of fendlike
e agony, and rage-lhe idrowsy hum of bees on
e a summers day--the mad vevelsl Of demons
!. and witches, were all within beck of that
! wonderful wand, the musicians slender bow.
His extraordinary power was by many at
tributed to the peculiar formation Of his hand
and wrist. His fingers were unusually long
y and muscular, and lle was able to bend his