Nicolò Paganini remains the most extraordinary violinist in the history of music. Legendary was his performing and expressive ability, ingenious and innovative his composition, immense his talent. And nothing ordinary characterized his person and life story as well, even after he took his last breath. But was he really the “devil’s violinist” or just a man constantly struggling with the fragility of his own body?
Paganini: the first real “star” in music history
He was called the “devil’s violinist” because of the performing ability that only one who comes to terms with the devil can possess. But not only that. Paganini’s appearance, attitudes and excesses contributed to giving the “demonic” appellation more and more substance. His contemporaries describe him thus, “…He has the face of a dragon. High, broad, square forehead, aquiline nose, mischievous mouth, wide, protruding, detached ears, long, black hair, contrasting with pallor of complexion….” .
He is thin and lanky, and, accentuating the drama of his character are his always black clothes and blue-lensed glasses. But it is when he plays that he is at his best: he fidgets, writhing like a madman, giving life to music that ends up “possessing” those who are lucky enough to attend one of his performances. He ranges from the deepest sensitivity to the extreme violence that causes him to break all the strings of his Cannon-the Guarnieri del Gesù violin he plays all his life-to stay with the last one, the G string, on which he continues to improvise. In short, a true star of his time who not only fascinated illustrious women-from Elisa Bonaparte to Mary Shelley-but also enthusiastically convinced the great musicians of the time.
From Rossini to Berlioz, from Beethoven to Listz, from Chopin to Schubert, everyone recognizes him for the grandiosity of his unparalleled performing abilities, his ability to touch unprecedented levels of expression, and the originality of his compositions that would mark the transition from classicism to romanticism.
But which man is behind the artist?
Various historical evidences show that Paganini could count on a mobility of his joints that was quite out of the ordinary: those who saw him play wrote that his long hands could cover three octaves without difficulty, and his thumb could flex until it touched the back of his hand. In later times this characteristic, as well as his “thin and slouching” physical constitution, were attributed to the exceptional ligament laxity brought about by one of the hereditary connective tissue pathologies: the Ehlers-Danlos or Marfan syndrome. To be sure, Paganini could not have been aware of this since both of these afflictions were identified in the late 1800s, thus almost half a century after his death.
In any case, if it is a pathology, Paganini has the ability to transform it into an extraordinary skill. And he is fiercely aware and proud of his virtuosity, which he says he sustains through strenuous daily practice: “If I don’t study for a day only I notice, if I don’t study for two days everyone notices.”
Travel and uncertain health
From a young age and for many years Paganini performed tirelessly, crisscrossing Italy and Europe, enjoying to his heart’s content the popularity he was accorded. Alongside the toil of the stage that of pleasure. There are many amorous adventures, some very rough, that he leaves behind but it is only one woman, Antonia Bianchi, who gives him the joy of fatherhood. His son Achille is for Paganini the greatest and most sincere affection that accompanies and comforts him throughout his life.
However, from 1820 his extraordinary vigor begins to desert him. An uncontrollable cough prostrates him and, already constitutionally thin, he becomes even more emaciated. A Palermo physician recommended Roob’s laxative to rid his body of toxics. The Pavia physician Siro Borda, more influenced by Paganini’s customs than by objective clinical findings, diagnoses him with latent syphilis and prescribes mercury, both for oral intake and as an ointment, as well as opium to quell his cough.
On these assumptions Paganini’s physical condition could hardly improve. Between 1823 and 1828 his appearance becomes, if possible, even worse: his pallor is deadly and it is Paganini himself who calls himself ugly. His obsession with his state of health grows, and Paganini undergoes exhausting carriage journeys across Europe in search of doctors and remedies that can restore his health and energy. He is visited by the most distinguished luminaries of the time: Francoise Magendie, Samuel Hahnemann (the father of homeopathy), Guillaume Dupuytren (former physician to Napoleon) and others.
Mercury intoxication
In 1828 Paganini reaches his friend Dr. Benati in Vienna, who, after a careful medical history and with the consultation of Dr. Miquel, an expert in the use of the stethoscope, recently introduced by Laennec, reassures him of the state of his lungs, which bear no trace of tuberculosis. Nor, as an expert laryngologist and phoniatrician, does he point out signs of syphilis! But it is Benati himself who warns him about the most likely cause of his physical decline: chronic mercury intoxication.
Of this toxin Paganini presents the effects derived from a massive and prolonged intake: loss of teeth, intense salivation evoking continuous expectoration and thus persistent coughing, and weakened eyesight. In the years that follow, the clinical picture becomes catastrophic. A dental abscess results in mandibular osteomyelitis that must be treated surgically, and Paganini must maintain a bandage to keep his jaw elevated. His hands begin to tremble and his psychic state changes significantly, transforming him from an aggressive and confident man into an apathetic and solitary individual, increasingly preoccupied with appearing in public. A shutdown of libido follows.
And not only that
Through it all Paganini continues to take every remedy that comes his way, first and foremost purgatives, many of which also contain mercurial compounds. His favorite is Le Roy’s elixir made from scammony, vegetable mixtures, jalapeno, senna and emetic salts such as antimony potassium tartrate (tartar emetic). Easy to understand the consequences: in addition to debilitating him, daily abuse of these irritants and substances with “erosive” action on the mucous membranes induce progressive stenosis of the esophagus, rectum and urethra. Paganini takes hours to be able to feed himself and is forced into bladder catheterizations. Eventually he becomes completely aphonic and in the latter stages of his life is forced to communicate through writing.
Nice, the last refuge
Concerned about a serious legal dispute and now at the end of his strength, in late 1839, Paganini moved to Nice – still an Italian land at the time – in the hope that the mild climate would benefit him. Welcoming him to his home is Count Hilarione Spitalieri de Cassole, his great friend and admirer. After some time the count found for his friend a residence at 23 rue du Governement (today’s rue de la Prefecture) where the artist took refuge cared for by his loving son Achille and where he died only a few months later. On the facade of the building a plaque in Italian still allows one to read:
“then that from this house turning the day XXVII of May of MDCCCXL the spirit of Nicolò Paganini rejoined the fountains of eternal harmony lies the mighty bow of magical notes but in the dulcet auras of Nice the supreme sweetness still lives on.”
Embalming: the Gannal method
The Count de Cassole ordered that Paganini’s body be transferred to the Hopital de Saint Roch to be embalmed. At that time the Gannal method is in vogue. After participating in several campaigns in Napoleon’s retinue and surviving the Battle of Waterloo, Jean-Nicolas Gannal, worked as a chemist and in 1837 patented a liquid to be used for preserving corpses.
The method involves a simple incision in the neck, at the carotid artery, through which preservation liquid is inserted with the aid of a pump. However, in 1845, the presence of arsenic did not allow him to overcome the comparison with the liquid created by his competitor, the embalmer J.P. Sucquet, based on zinc chloride. The success of Gannal’s preservative liquid will be surpassed by Thomas Holmes in the United States: once the arsenic is removed, it will be widely used for the preservation of fallen soldiers in the American Civil War.
The missed funeral
After the embalming, Paganini’s body is placed in two caskets, one made of zinc and one of walnut wood, with a glass plate allowing his face to be exposed.
Paganini cannot be buried in consecrated ground due to a “misunderstanding” that occurred a few days before his death with the priest, Don Caffarelli, sent by the bishop, it appears that he refused last rites. While his son Achille and many of Paganini’s distinguished friends appealed to King Charles Albert and Pope Gregory XVI that the great artist might receive a proper burial, the coffin remained in the apartment on Rue du Governement. However, the “demonic” halo that cloaks the figure of Paganini follows him even in death and fuels rumors and superstitions around his remains. The coffin no longer remains in the home, and health authorities require its transfer to a suitable location.
No one wants his coffin
While waiting for the ecclesiastical process to take place, the Count of Cessole decides to shelter the coffin from curious onlookers and hides it in the cellar of his estate in the countryside of Nice. In September, the coffin is transferred to a former hospital in Villefranche sur mer, used a century earlier for quarantining sailors. The count relies on the restraint of the guardian, the only one with a key to the chapel. After some time, however, he notices that the body is the object of a macabre paid pilgrimage and arranges for it to be moved yet again, this time to the property of Count Caïs de Pierlas at the tip of Cap Ferrat.
At this point, between history and legend, his son Achilles is said to have attempted to transport his father’s coffin to Genoa, aboard a ship, but the Genoese authorities allegedly refused the landing, forcing the schooner to return to France. Seeing the coffin rejected in both Marseille and Cannes, Achilles decided to deposit the coffin in a temporary burial on Ferreol Island, off the coast of Nice. Here the coffin would remain until 1844.
The epilogue
On April 17, 1844, through the King’s intercession, authority is given to clandestinely transport the coffin to the Casinetto di Romairone, property of the violinist, in the hamlet of S. Biagio della Polcevera. A burial in consecrated ground is not yet permitted. But even here Paganini’s remains generate bewilderment because of the prejudices and superstitions inspired by his “impiety,” and the coffin must be moved once again. Achille appeals to Marie Louise of Austria, Napoleon’s widow and a great admirer of Paganini, who agrees to the transfer of his remains to Parma. The coffin thus reached Gaione, where Paganini had bought a villa in 1833, and where he remained in the church sacristy for 32 years, without a cross or a name.
It was not until 1876 that Pope Pius IX made public the verdict by which the church, already in 1844, annulled the bishop of Nice’s decree and rehabilitated the artist. When the Villetta cemetery was set up in Parma, Achillino obtained that his father be buried in a tomb specially built for him, where he still rests today. The small temple dedicated to Paganini’s remains is decorated with an eagle holding a bow clenched in its beak.
In conclusion, the story gives us an image of Paganini that is indeed that of a “devil” of talent and skill, but it also restores the image of a man who was basically fragile and debilitated because of medicine that, in his time, was unable to sustain him but rather contributed to his decline.
