Potent to stir the vibratory string, And wonders from the realms of sound to bring! Skilled, through the ear, to reach the awakened heart, Or bid the Fancy play her picturing part! Conqu’ror, whose captives, gladdened with soft strains, Clung to thy sway, and revelled in their chains, And came in crowds, their homage to renew, And heaped the tribute still, as still thy due! How void the space that thou were wont to fill! Thy throne, how vacant, now—and mute thy skill! Hast thou—hast found, far, far from earthly din, The rest thy glittering triumphs could not win? —Farewell!—What chief soe’er may seek to reign, Thy like we shall not look upon again!
The compositions of Paganini, replete as they are with the most surprising difficulties, and the boldest in novations, form prominent examples of what may be called the romance of instrumental music. The design entertained by their author, of giving them to the world in his own life-time, as well as of imparting the secret that should make their execution seem no longer super-human, was destined to have no fulfilment; and it is to be regretted that his death rendered impossible the complete publication of all that he had composed, as not a few of the manuscript pieces were left by him in an imperfect state. Of twenty-four several pieces, enumerated as forming the whole of the MS. original works of Paganini, preserved by his son, nine only were discovered to be in a completed state. An edition of all that is presentable, however, has been undertaken in Paris, to gratify at length a twenty-years expectation but it is very doubtful whether a London edition will be ventured on, since it is only for the higher class of professors—for a very select minority—that such a collection can have any attractiveness, beyond that of mere curiosity.
Monsieur Fétis, in his literary notice, written to accompany the Collection just referred to, has given some able critical remarks on the compositions in detail. His pamphlet may be consulted with advantage by the enquiring reader. Alluding to the compositions in their general character, M. Fétis observes that great merit is displayed in them—novelty as to the ideas, elegance as to the forms, richness of harmony, and variety in the effects of instrumentation. These qualities (he adds) shine out particularly in the Concertos, however much they may differ from the classic type of those of Viotti, which, with all their charming sentiment, left something yet to be desired, on the score of variety, in the more rapid passages.
In his own compositions (which he always played with more satisfaction to himself than those of any other master) the mind of the great artist was highly developed; but to execute his peculiar intentions, in all their complexity, he needed the beautiful, exemplary, unfailing accuracy of intonation, that so distinguished him. How nicely exact, in the softest passages, his double notes! With what marvellous certainty did his bow pitch down upon the strings, no matter what the relative distance of the intervals! His hand (says M. Fétis) was a geometrical compass, that divided, with mathematical exactness, the neck of the violin—and his fingers always came plump upon the very point at which the intonations of his double-note intervals were to be obtained.
As some sort of antidote to positive despair, I will conclude this chapter with a passage in which, despite their thorny intricacies, the above-named writer recommends the practical study of Paganini’s Works:—
“It will perhaps be asked, what can be the advantage of introducing fresh difficulties into Art! In Music, it will be reasonably contended, the object is not to astonish, by the conquest of difficulties, but to charm, by means of sentiment. Against this principle, I would be the last to declaim; but I would observe, first, that there is no preventing those cases of exception, in which certain artists will seek the triumphs of their talent in extreme perils of execution, which, if successful, the public will as surely applaud;—and, secondly, that the study of what is most arduous, leads to certainty in what is more simple. A violinist who should attain the power of playing the Concertos of Paganini, with truth of tune, and in perfect proportion, would possess, à fortiori, an undeviating accuracy in ordinary music.