The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-04-10
PAGANINI.

acter.
Paganini's father may. have been a
street porter, as some pretend, or a
small tradesman, as others, probably in
the right, affirm. He was a sharp man !;
he was a cruel man; he did overmuch to
develop his sons talents, and overmuch
to ruin his health, and, probably, is
chargeable with having destroyed his
mental and moral equilibrium for life.
Nicolo's mother was a sweet, amiable
woman-she loved her boy, she believed
in him, she often stood between him
and the rod, she prayed for him, and
saw one night in a vision a celestial be-
ing, who told her that the boy would
become the greatest violinist that ever
lived. How far this dream, which she
lost no time in communicating to father
and son, increased the fathers severity,
and fired the boys ambition, We cannot
tell; but the dream seems to have been
a well-established fact, and years after
ward, when the mother was old, and the
son at his zenith. she reminded him of
it, as of an incident which had been ia
miliar to both of them throughout their
lives.
In these early days of boyhood were
probably laid the seeds of that idiosyn-
Grassy of temperament which became at
once the glory and curse of his life.
Little as we know about the human
brain, it is tolerably certain that its
particles move in physical grooves and
acquire methodical arrangements, which
correspond to what we call mental quail
tiles and states of mind. Illness may
perpetuate some, and modify others.
Great severity may have similar effect /;
recurrent outward action, for instance,
may create intense propensity in certain
directions, and thus impart the perse-
verance of mania TO inward dispositions; !;
the nervous system at the same time, if
it does not break down, becomes over
developed, and is then endowed with an
almost supernatural sensibility. Some
thing of this kind appears to have been
the case with Paganini he was by ma
tura very delicate. At four years of
age he was nearly buried alive, he lay
n whole day in state of catalepsy, and
was already placed in his shroud, when
he revived, but with nervous system
which from that time forward showed
signs of a strange and unnatural suscep-
tibility BY his own temperament, as
soon as he could hold the violin he was
urged to an intense and dangerous ap-
plication-for the least fault he was Sc
verely beaten by his father, which seem
ed only to increase an ardor which
should, for his own sake, have been
rather moderated. Precocity was still
further forced on by starvation. Had
it not been for his mother he might
never have survived this brutal treat
ment.
Paganini was born at Genoa on the
18th of February, IVA After exhaust
ing his fathers instruction, he was taken
in hand by Signor Servetto of the Ge-
noese theater; then Giacomo Costa,
chapel master, taught him, and the
child was often seen playing in the Ge-
noese churches on a violin almost as
large as himself; but, like Mozart be-
fore him, and Mendelssohn after him,
Nicolo was the despair of his masters,
who were in turn angry with his limo
vations, and astonished at his precocious
facility. In his ninth year he appeared
at a concert, and electrified every one
with variations on a well known Frencl
air. This triumph compelled his ava
/ ricious father to discover some one who
could further teach him; the young tai
ent was to be pressed and squeezed t,
its utmost limit, in order to produce tn,
golden harvest.
At Parma lived the celebrated musi
clan Rolla. To Rolla was the bo,
taken, bat RoIla was i'll. Whilst wait
ing in the ante-room little Nicolo tool
up a violin, and played of at sigh
some difficult music which he found ly
ing on the table. The invalid compose
raised himself to listen, and eagerly in
quired who the great master was VIII
had arrived, and was playing in his ante
room. "a mere ladi-impossiblel" bu
on Paganini's making his appearance a
an humble pupil, Rolla at once toll
him that he could teach him nothing
Thence to Paer, who was glad to max
his difficult charge over to Ghiretti, an
this master gave him three lessons
week in harmony and counterpoint.
is not clear that this extraordinary g
Mus owed much more to any one bI
himself-his indomitable perseverance
, and his incessant study. His metho
} is to be noted. For 10 or u hours
would try passages over and over aga
in different ways with such absorPtic
and intensity. that at nightfan he wOu
sink in utter prostration through exec