Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-09-17
PAGANINIANA A.
SaS Sc esting Anecdotes of the Great and

Gar teresting Anecdotes of the Great and
Famous Violin virtuOso.
1.-The current number of the Corn
@afll Magazine contains en- Interesting
zgrticle called 'Pagauiniara. 1t is
made up of amusing anecdotes about
~ahe greatest of all violin virtuosi, and
comprises several stories which it may
ase worth while to quote. Paganini
visited England at least once during
she course of his brilliant career.
This was in 1882, when he played in
london and made a tour through the
provinces. People characterized his
appearance as more like that of de-
voice to suffer martyrdom than one
likely to delight with his art. There
IS a curious letter Of his own, writ
zen at this time, in which he complaint
ed of the excessive and noisy admira-
ton to which he was a victim in Lon.
don, which left him no rest, and actually
blocked his passage from the opera
house every time he played. Al
though the public curiosity to see me,
says he. lis long since satisfied, though
] have played in public at least thirty
Gimes, and my likeness has been repro
0uced in all possible styles and forms,
yet can never leave my house with
out being mobbed by people who
are not content with following
and iOstling me, but actually
get in front of me and prevent my
getting either way, address me in Eng
fish, Of which | do not know a word,
and even feel me. as if to find out if
am flesh and blood. And this not only
che common people, but even the up
per classes.' The great violinist had
mary curious adventures, among
which few are more deserving of
record than that which befell him at
Ferrara, where he narrowly escaped
being -ynched. In those days it seems
the common people of the suburbs Of
that little town looked upon the dwell
ers in the town itself as "a set of assesr
Hence. we read, Any cOuntryman a
reside of the suburbs if asked where
he came from, never replied, From
Ferrara but put up his head and
began braying like an ass" Now. I'M
luckily for him, as 1t proved, Paganini
could initiate with his violin the bray
ing Of an ass as well as do other won
derful things. In the course of con-
cert at Ferrara some one in the pit
had Kissed. 1t was an outrage which
must be revengcd, but no one sus-
pected anything when, at the close of
the program, Paganini proposed to
Initiate the voices of various animals
After having reproduced the notes of
different birds, the mewing of a cat
Che barking of a dog, and so on, he
advanced to the foOtlights, and calling
out This IS for those who Missed, i'm
itatcd IN an unmistakable manner
Gbo braying of Il donkey The eff
lect produced was magical but not
at all what the player had probably
expected. The audience taking the
significant 'hee-haw' as an allusi0u to
themselves, rose almost to a man
rushed through the orchestra. climbed
the stage. and would undoubtedly
have strangled the daring fiddler if he
had not taken to instantaneous f1ipht
Paganinl was thorough believer in
.Carlysle's dictum that genius is the
capacity for taking infinite pains He
WIS kloWh 10 nave tried the same
passage in thousand different WAYS
during ten or twelve hours, and to be-
completely overwhelmed at the end of
the day. Nothing seemed beyond his
marvellous powers, as the following
RnecdOte will show: The word diff
Guilty had no place in his vocabulary.
The most intricate music of the day
was but as child's play to him as a
certain painter at Parma once found,
much to his chagrin. This gentleman
discredited the common belief that
Paganini could get through the most
difficult music at first sight He pos
sessed a valuable CremOna violin.
which he offered to present to the vir
GuOso If he could perform, straight off,
manuscript concerto which he placed
before him. This instrument is yours
-said he. if YOU can play in mastery
manner that concerto at first sight
In that case, my friend, replied Pa
ganini you may bid adleu to it at
once which the painter, according to
Che bargain found he had to do a few
minutes later.