The Tablet, with inscription, fixed on the front of the house, Rue de la Prefecture, Nice, France.
The Tomb of Paganini at Parma. Neither religious nor political martyr ever had so many objections made to his obsequies. To the cemetery, near Parma, in November, 1876, the embalmed remains of Paganini were transposed from the family villa at Gaione, by order of his son, the Baron Achille (who died in December, 1895). The funeral was held at night by torchlight. A nephew, the Baron Attila Paganini, followed, and crowds of curious sightseers joined the procession. In 1893 there was erected the beautiful mausoleum which is now depicted from the only known photograph, taken expressly for The Strad. It bears this inscription:—
Qui riposano le ceneri
di Nicolò Paganini
Che traendo dal violino armonie divine
Scosse genio insuperabile tutta Europa
e cinse all'Italia,
Nuova sfolgorante corona.Mente elettissima
Compose stupendamente in musica
Ammirato dai piu illustri maestri.Cuore oltremodo generoso
donò largamente
ai parenti, agli artisti ai poveri.
Beneath this cupola of white marble, with its granite columns, may the ashes of Paganini rest in peace. His true remains—his reputation, his influence, his music, are with us for ever.
Paganini in Prison. One of the many scandals which is contradicted in the text. (See page [90].) There is another prison story that during Paganini's incarceration, he was reduced to the G, in consequence of the other strings having broken—hence his wonderful development of the fourth. This is again apocryphal. Paganini has greater claim to a scientific knowledge of the acoustical property of strings.
Plates [15], [16], and [17], see pages 101, 102, and 103,
are reproductions of Paganini's MSS. in the British Museum. No. 15, a letter (dated April 16th, 1832, and in French) thanking the person addressed, for kindness shown to his "cher fils Achille," Nos. 16 (dated February 19th, 1835) and 17 (dated May 5th, 1838); short notes (in Italian) are interesting autographs. Paganini was proverbially a "silent man"—his epistles are very rare.