Niccolo Paganini - Carmagnola con Variazioni, Luigi Alberto Bianchi (violin), Maurizio Preda (guitar)
Theme (Largo - Allegro) - Variazioni 1-14
Recorded at Genoa (Dynamic Studio), October 2003
Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (27 October 1782 - 27 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op. 1 are among the best known of his compositions and have served as an inspiration for many prominent composers.
Generally speaking, Paganini's compositions were technically imaginative, and the timbre of the instrument was greatly expanded as a result of these works.
Paganini was in possession of a number of fine stringed violins. More legendary than these were the circumstances under which he obtained (and lost) some of them. While Paganini was still a teenager in Livorno, a wealthy businessman named Livron lent him a violin, made by the master luthier Giuseppe Guarneri, for a concert. Livron was so impressed with Paganini's playing that he refused to take it back. This particular violin came to be known as Il Cannone Guarnerius ("The Cannon of Guarnieri") because of its powerful voice and resonance.
Eugène Ysaÿe criticized Paganini's works for lacking characteristics of true polyphonism. Yehudi Menuhin, on the other hand, suggested that this might have been the result of Paganini's reliance on the guitar (in lieu of the piano) as an aid in composition because other than compositions for solo violin and orchestra, Paganini had composed the largest number of works for the combination of violin and guitar, more so than any other instrumentations. In this, his style is consistent with that of other Italian composers such as Giovanni Paisiello, Gioachino Rossini, and Gaetano Donizetti, who were influenced by the guitar-song milieu of Naples during this period.
Paganini could play the guitar admirably and execute very difficult chords and beautiful arpeggios using special fingerings of his own, though, while there exists information regarding Paganini’s performance in public playing the guitar as an accompanist, he never performed as a solo guitarist. Of the guitars he owned through his life, there was an instrument by Gennaro Fabricatore that he had refused to sell even in his periods of financial stress, and was among the instruments in his possession at the time of his death. There is an unsubstantiated rumour that he also played Stauffer guitars; he may certainly have come across these in his meetings with Giuliani in Vienna.
Apart from a small number of longer works, for example the Carmagnola con Variazioni (M.S. 1), the majority of the pieces written for violin and guitar were short and were mostly, though not all of them, grouped into sets of six sonatas.
Carmagnola con Variazioni (M.S. 1), Theme and 14 Variations on the French Hymn “Carmagnole”, is the earliest known and surviving composition of Paganini which he had performed. It is based on a sprightly popular theme in 6/8 that can be traced back to the Perigordino, a French dance that first appeared in the Ligurian Apennines during the Napoleonic period. Three months before he turned thirteen, Paganini played it on 31-Jul-1795 at Teatro di Sant’Agostino of Genoa during a fund-raising concert for him to raise money from his fellow citizens to contribute towards his project of going to Parma to perfect himself in his profession under the guidance of Professor Rolla.