Word: paganini
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...pious folk a century ago believed that Nicolo Paganini was in league with the Devil; some swore they had seen Old Nick at the Italian violinist's side as he fiddled like the very devil himself. No one before him, and few after, could do what he did with a bow - extra long, for his abnormally long arm - and four strings. A haughty showman, he employed unusually thin strings, not only to produce extremely delicate harmonics (overtones two octaves higher than normal), but also, said some, so that he could break a string, use the remaining three as makeshift...
...people ever heard Paganini practice; he boasted that the rigors of his early training (he had been a prodigy) entitled him to rest. He let little of his work be published, let as few people as possible see the scores from which he and his orchestra played in concert. At a rehearsal, he would indicate tempi, toss off a few notes of a cadenza, infuriate everyone by remarking "Et cetera, Messieurs," and knock off. During Paganini's life, the only way a fiddler could learn anything about his style was to listen in a concert hall. This...