Niccolo Paganini, certainly the best publicized and possibly the

best violinist ever to have lived, was an innovator along several lines. As

a composer and performer of violin music, he extended the range of the

instrument upwards by the use of harmonics, which he may almost be said

to have invented. As a consummate showman, he treated audiences to

the novelty of using a bamboo cane in place of a bow, and of ignoring

breaking strings on his violin during recitals, completing performances

of difficult works on the three or two strings remaining. But his most in-

teresting innovation was the creation in his own person of the type of the

virtuoso, complete with exotic appearance, dazzling technical proficiency,

and irregular personal conduct.

Before his time (1784-1840), musicians, whether composers or

performers, were regarded by themselves and by others as artisans of a

refined craft rather than as artists. Bach is said to have expressed the

opinion that “anyone with ten fingers can do what I do”, and Mozart, with

a feeling of gratified pride that actually revealed a most touching modes-

ty, wrote a friend it had been said of him that “composers like me are

born only once every hundred years”! Around the turn of the century,

however—a facet of the romantic movement and of the new emphasis on

the individual—the type of the virtuoso appeared, represented to per-

fection in the person of Paganini.

A native of Genoa, Paganini received his earliest musical instruc-

tion from his father. Additional encouragement came from his mother,

who frequently recited to him a dream wherein an angel had promised

her that her son would become the greatest violinist in the world. In an

effort to carry out the divine prophecy, Paganini senior forced the boy

to long hours of practice, denying him food when results fell short of

perfection. His progress being phenomenal, the boy managed to escape

actual starvation (though his health was seriously and permanently un-

dermined by this treatment) and soon advanced to more proficient and

more humane teachers.

Having made numerous public appearances from the time he was

nine, Paganini was ready, at thirteen, for his first professional tour alone.

The resultant sudden release from parental supervision after more than

a decade of the strictest discipline left him free to indulge in all the ir-

regularities that occurred to him, and they were many. Prominent among

them was gambling, and on one occasion he was reduced to pawning even

his instrument.

An affair of the heart caused him to desert his musical career en-

tirely from 1801 to 1804, when he retired to the estate of a lady of rank

in Tuscany, but in 1805 he again resumed his public appearances in Italy,

creating a furore wherever he played. Later concerts in France, Austria,

Germany and England were an uninterrupted series of dazzling successes,

and for a period of 35 years—until his death in 1840—he remained the

unrivalled, if not the unchallenged, master of the bow.

In addition to being a performer without peer, Paganini was a

serious and well-trained composer. Most of his output, naturally enough, |

was for violin. These were invariably of exceeding difficulty, and usually

exploited techniques that Paganini himself had discovered or developed.

LONG PLAYING RECORD 33-1/3 R.P.M. (MICROGROOVE) Copyright 1950 by The London Gramophone Corporation, New York 1, N. Y.

Printed in U.S.A.

x ii PAGANINI —_—e - CAPRICES NOS. 1 Through 12

(for unaccompanied violin)

RUGGIERO RICCI Grove’s tells us that some of his early compositions for the instrumen' written when he was thirteen, were filled with “such novel technical di ficulties that he was himself compelled to study certain passages with a siduity.” After having reached maturity, however, he literally nev: practised, remarking “I have labored enough to acquire my talent. — is time I should rest myself”. | |

Naturally enough, he was jealous of the new techniques he h evolved, and withheld publication of most of his pieces for violin u after his death in order to protect his secrets. =

The “24 Caprices” of which the first 12 are here presented, c stitute a challenge which none but the greatest violinists can meet. No. - is an arpeggio study. Modulations are frequent, and some passages re mind us that Paganini had also studied the guitar, some of the chord dis positions being more natural to that instrument than to the violin. No. 21 characterized by groups of thirds, sixths, and tenths, and by widely space intervals, necessitating a rapid movement of the bow arm in jumpi

over the intervening string. 4

No. 3 is introduced by a Sostenuto, with trills in octaves leading into a Presto which demands the most perfect legato. It closes with a re-

turn to the opening Sostenuto. No. 4 features passages in thirds, sixths octaves and tenths, calling for bowing perfection, while No. 5, after a cadenza-like introduction, is a study in staccato. No. 6 is an Adagio i which the violinist plays two quite separate parts, demanding complet

independence of finger action. No. 7 is again a staccato study, whi

Guhr, a contemporary of Paganini, tells us the master always played with

a jumping bow, using the middle rather than than the tip as other violin-

ists were doing. No. 8 features double stops, and runs executed simul-

taneously with sustained notes, offering great difficulties of intonation.

No. 9 is an amusing duet “imitando il Flauto” and “imitando i corno”. No. 10 is again a staccato study, and No. 11, after a lyrical An

dante, offers an interesting rhythmical figuration in the Presto. No. 1

again challenges the player’s bowing. a

THE ARTIST: | ie Ruggiero Ricci, one of this country’s genuine “wunderkinde

has been concertising throughout the world for over twenty years, thou

he has just reached the age of thirty. Born in San Francisco in 1920, studied with the noted pedagogue Louis Persinger, making his debut i:

his native city at the age of 8. The next year saw him in New York where he made a sensation with his performance of the Mendelssoh:

violin concerto, and for some time thereafter pictures of the dark-haired

dark-eyed boy dressed in short pants and a white satin blouse, clutchin his violin, were a commonplace in the newspapers and musical journals

Grown into maturity, Ricci has fulfilled the promise of his youth and i

now among the ranking violinists of the day. The present recording 1

the only one in existence to present the Caprices in their original for

as Paganini wrote them, with no cuts or arrangements. Ricci—whos

immediate ancestors came from Genoa, the birthplace of Paganini—use

the original Paganini bowing in playing the Caprices, and in making thi

recording he played an instrument once owned by the great master. E. C. STONE

COPPPDL IPOS DODO DED OGLE DOLL LEE

TO OBTAIN BEST POSSIBLE RESULTS, CLEAN RECORD WITH A BARELY DAMP CLOTH.