One Guy Was So Good At Violin That People Thought He Worshipped Satan

Summary

Ridiculous History Podcast Summary: "One Guy Was So Good At Violin That People Thought He Worshipped Satan"

Released on October 31, 2024, "Ridiculous History" hosted by Ben Bolan and Noel Brown delves into the extraordinary life of Niccolò Paganini, a virtuoso violinist whose unparalleled skills sparked legendary rumors of diabolical pacts. This Halloween-themed episode unravels the enigmatic persona of Paganini, exploring his rise to fame, personal vices, health struggles, and the enduring myths that surround him.

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1. Introduction to Paganini and the Devilly Rumors

The episode opens with Ben Bolan and Noel Brown setting the stage for a deep dive into the life of Niccolò Paganini, a figure whose exceptional musical talent led many to believe he had made a deal with the devil. Noel quips, “[...] Niccolò Paganini was a real life bad boy rock star” ([05:31]), immediately framing Paganini as a precursor to modern-day rock icons.

2. Early Life and Family Influences

Niccolò Paganini was born on October 27, 1782, in Genoa, Italy, into a large family as the third of six children. Ben remarks, “He was the third of six children, I believe. Maybe that's where he got the chip on his shoulder to devil worship” ([07:08]), humorously attributing his later infamous reputation to sibling dynamics. Paganini's mother was determined that one of her children would become a renowned violinist, while his father supported the family through music sales and performances. This rigorous upbringing under strict parental guidance set the foundation for Paganini's formidable talents.

3. Musical Training and Early Career

Starting with the mandolin at age five, Paganini quickly transitioned to the violin, demonstrating prodigious talent. By age eleven, he was already performing publicly, a testament to his early mastery. Noel highlights the rigorous training, stating, “[...] by the time this kid is 11, his dad puts him on the mean streets of Genoa to play violin” ([11:02]). Paganini studied under distinguished teachers, including Alessandro Rola and Ferdinando Payer, with Ben humorously comparing these teachers to "final bosses" in a video game ([11:35]).

4. Rise to Fame and Rockstar Persona

Paganini's career trajectory bore striking similarities to that of a modern rock star. In 1797, he toured with his father, captivating audiences with his flamboyant performances. Noel describes Paganini as “the first analog to the rock star” ([14:43]), noting his unkempt hair, dramatic flair, and magnetic stage presence that left audiences "throwing their pantaloons" ([14:30]). His appointment as the first violin of the Republic of Lucca in 1801 marked his ascent to musical prominence, a prestigious position akin to being the lead guitarist in a top band today.

5. Personal Vices and Financial Struggles

Despite his success, Paganini's life was marred by personal vices, particularly gambling. Ben notes, “[...] he lost a lot of his disposable income because he loves the gambling” ([18:13]). His gambling habits often forced him into financial straits, leading to situations where he had to pawn his own violin to settle debts. These financial struggles were exacerbated by his attempts to sustain his lavish lifestyle, despite the prestigious yet not exceedingly lucrative first chair position in the orchestra.

6. The Devilly Rumors: Fact or Fiction?

Paganini's exceptional skill on the violin became the fertile ground for rumors of diabolical pacts. Noel recounts, “Rumors ran amok about his having murdered a woman and used her intestines as violin strings” ([19:42]). While these stories are evidently exaggerated, they reflect the awe and suspicion that surrounded Paganini. Ben adds, “[...] rumors about a deal with the devil will start circulating, at least for fun, when someone's really good at the violin” ([29:30]). These myths were further fueled by Paganini's eerie stage presence and the folklore associating the violin with infernal forces.

7. Health Issues and Decline

Behind the scenes, Paganini battled chronic health issues and syphilis, diagnosed as early as 1822. The harsh treatments of mercury and opium left lasting effects on his health and mental state. Noel comments on his suffering, “[...] abandoned the violin into other things that I enjoyed very much, like guitar playing in bands and all of that” ([09:40]). His declining health, combined with financial instability from failed ventures like his unsuccessful Parisian casino in 1836, led to a gradual downturn in his career.

8. Final Years and Death

Paganini's tumultuous final years saw him auctioning off personal possessions, including his precious violins, to cover debts. His resistance to last rites, as recounted by Noel, further cemented the rumors of his supernatural associations: “[...] he turned the priest away because he says, you know, I'm not going to die yet” ([38:52]). He passed away on May 27, 1840, at the age of 57, due to internal hemorrhaging likely caused by his prolonged illness and hardships.

9. Legacy and Enduring Myths

Even after his death, Paganini's legend continued to grow. While officially denied a Catholic burial in Genoa, his remains were eventually reinterred in Parma in 1876. The persistent myths of his pact with the devil underscore his lasting impact on both music and popular culture. Ben reflects, “[...] we can say some people genuinely believe he had made a deal with the devil because he was just that good” ([63:56]).

10. Conclusion: Paganini as a Halloween Icon

As the episode wraps up, Ben and Noel humorously suggest Paganini as a perfect Halloween costume, capturing his gothic and enigmatic persona. Noel muses, “I think Paganini would be a good one” ([63:56]), inviting listeners to embrace the historical intrigue of this musical legend during the spooky season.

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Notable Quotes:

• "We are talking about making a deal with the devil for violin Chop, but not the Charlie Daniels Band version." – Noel Brown ([01:34])

• "He was the third of six children, I believe. Maybe that's where he got the chip on his shoulder to devil worship." – Ben Bolan ([07:33])

• “He was too good, and then he was too good again, and finally he met the master.” – Ben Bolan ([12:18])

• "Rumors ran amok about his having murdered a woman and used her intestines as violin strings and imprisoning her soul within the instrument." – Noel Brown ([19:42])

• "He turned the priest away because he says, you know, I'm not going to die yet." – Ben Bolan ([38:52])

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Conclusion:

This episode of "Ridiculous History" masterfully intertwines historical facts with the captivating myths that make Niccolò Paganini a subject of enduring fascination. Through engaging dialogue and humorous anecdotes, Ben Bolan and Noel Brown paint a vivid picture of a man whose genius on the violin transcended ordinary boundaries, giving rise to legendary tales that continue to resonate centuries later. Whether you're a music enthusiast or a lover of intriguing historical narratives, this episode offers a compelling exploration of what makes a historical figure both extraordinary and endlessly enigmatic.

Transcript

[Ben Bolan]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you as always, so much for tuning in. And let's hear it for our super producer, Mr. Max Williams.

[Noel Brown]

Hello.

[Ben Bolan]

I have never worshiped Satan, to your knowledge, right? Also, you're missing out. Yeah, that's Noel Brown. I'm Ben Bolan.

[Noel Brown]

What's your position on Satan, Ben?

[Ben Bolan]

Which one? There's. Ha. Satan. There's also the idea of the Lightbringer. I feel like the concept of Satan, Lucifer, the Lightbringer from the comic books has many aspects. The idea of the anti. Oh, the Antichrist is the son of Satan, right?

[Noel Brown]

Yeah.

[Ben Bolan]

We did an episode years and years ago about the nature and origins of Satan for stuff they don't want you to know. And we got a lot. We still have the YouTube video out. We had a lot of discourse on that one because. No, the devil is on people's minds.

[Noel Brown]

Well, the devil is in the details, Pen. That's what they say. Whatever happened to as good old American as apple pie Satan? When did it have to get all complicated?

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, what happened to the guy who just went down to Georgia and lost a violin contest?

[Noel Brown]

You know, it's funny that you should say that, Ben. We are talking about making a deal with the devil for violin Chop, but not the Charlie Daniels Band version. Turns out there's a historical precedent for that tune.

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[Ben Bolan]

Oh what a setup. Noel yeah we are. We wanted to do do something a little bit Halloween. Ish. A bit Halloweeny.

[Noel Brown]

You can say Halloweeny for a couple of weenies.

[Ben Bolan]

Little Halloweeny here. We have all become enamored with the story of a celebrity violinist. A lot of people not in the music world may not have heard of this guy, but in his day, Nicolo Paganini was a real life bad boy rock star. Right, like you have a past with the violin. I like phrasing it that way.

[Noel Brown]

Why, yes, Ben, Back when I was a small German boy, I too made a deal with the devil at a crossroads in midnight to attain my violin prowess. Much like Niccolo Paganini, Though my deal was a little bit second rate. I could not shred nearly as well as the man. He's considered by many, by most who know of him, to be a musical genius. He was also, like, basically a rock star guy, you know, rocked the long kind of unkempt locks and the unbuttoned, you know, silk. Silk shirt showing nip, you know, he was a virtuoso. And some people believe that all of these powers combined could result from nothing less than a pact with Satan.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, and we're going to get to how that rumor started. But before we do, we've got to dive into his origin story. You'll see why we consider this ridiculous history. We're also going to call our buddy Nikki, the devil's violinist. Occasionally, no offense to violinists or devils, but this guy is born. It's October 27, 1782, in Genoa, Italy. Not the most stable time for Italy in general. He's part of a big family.

[Noel Brown]

That's right. He was the third of six children, I believe. Isn't that like the literal middle child? Maybe that's where he got the chip on his shoulder to devil worship. We're kidding, by the way. These are rumors. We're going to play into it a little bit. It's fun. We like to have fun here on ridiculous History. Third of six children born to Antonio and Teresa NE Boganini.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. And, okay, so you know how today we call people helicopter parents if they're always sort of living vicariously through their kids and taking them to a million different extracurriculars, et cetera, et cetera. You know, like, look, that can be really difficult for the kids, but every so often, you know, it results in a Tiger Woods. And that's kind of what happened with Paganini, because his mom had decided from the jump that this one of her six children would be a famous violinist. His father was also a really gifted musician. He was trying to be a salesman of boat supplies, but, yeah, he wasn't.

[Noel Brown]

Good at just, like, ropes and stuff and sails. What is it? What is.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, like boating paraphernalia. Yeah. Okay. But he unfortunately was not, not successful with that. He was more successful supporting his family and his six kids by playing music on the mandolin and also selling mandolin. So that's a pretty good. I think that's a pretty good way to sell mandolins, right? You show up somewhere, you get paid to rock out on your mandalorian, and someone's like, I'm so inspired. And then you say, guess what, buddy, you can also buy a mandolin.

[Noel Brown]

I love the gentle sound of a mandolin. And there's nothing more clichely Italian in a music cue than a fast picked mandolin. You know, perhaps by Captain Corelli himself. You know, it's funny though, Ben, you may not know this, I bet you probably do, but anyone out there who doesn't, this is for you. A mandolin is tuned exactly the same as a violin. That's where the Olin part comes from, except it has dual strings. The high strings are tuned in unisons and the low strings are tuned in octaves. So that's what gives you that really nice full sound. And, well, I did not have the same level of shred in common with Paganini. I too had a bit of a helicopter parent situation growing up, though it was my father who stood over me assiduously as I practiced violin and would give me a good swat with a bow if I messed up.

[Ben Bolan]

Is that part true?

[Noel Brown]

It is very true. It was not the best relationship made me resent the violin. But I eventually moved on to, you know, taking that, parlaying that into other things that I enjoyed very much, like guitar playing in bands and all of that. So I've forgiven my papa for this transgression and not to be apologist, but he came to it in his own way. He wanted me to be a very skilled and perhaps famous violin. As that did not transpire, I instead became a skilled and mildly Internet famous podcaster.

[Ben Bolan]

And I today I learned, I knew about the tuning, but I did not know about the etymology of mandolin and violin. That's very interesting. Thank you for that. So Paganini is training on the mandolin first and he's doing it when he's five. A couple years later, he's stepping up to the violin and his dad is his teacher. Similar kind of to your situation. His dad is also figuring out, look, let's be honest folks, it's the late 1700s. Child labor is very highly normalized and approved of. So by the time this kid is 11, his dad puts him on the mean streets of Genoa to play violin.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, for the public. He's already pretty good by then he gets sent at the age of 13 to study with the famous violinist and teacher Alessandro Rola. But when he arrived, Rola decided that Paganini was already so skilled up that he really couldn't teach him much. So instead he referred him to his own teacher, the teacher's teacher, Ferdinando Payer. And because of his abilities, he was then again passed on to another teacher, Payer's teacher, the teacher's teacher's teacher, Gasparo.

[Ben Bolan]

Geretti, the grandfather teacher. Like the final boss of violin teachers. That's, that's how swats you with a boat too. That's how the story goes. There is a perspective that we're, we're putting a spin on here in our research because we know that he definitely went to all three of those teachers. But as we'll see, our buddy Nick is kind of is. There's no kind of about it. He's a source of legend. So a lot of times you'll hear stories about his progression phrased in this way, right? Like instead of just saying he had three different teachers who knew each other, they'll say, oh, he's too good. And then he was too good again. And then finally he met the master.

[Noel Brown]

He was too, too good again, again.

[Ben Bolan]

Just like a Kanye west verse. In March of 1796, Genoa is massively destabilized because the French invade northern Italy. As a result, the family, the Paganini family relocates to their country home near Bolzonetto. And there was a silver lining here. This is really interesting to me for such a public facing guy. While his family was basically on lockdown, exiled to the country, Paganini picked up a guitar. At some point he became obsessed with the guitar. It was one of his favorite instruments ever. And he never did a public performance. He decided probably from the jump, that guitar was for him and maybe his friends and maybe his lovers, if he thought they performed well, that's fair.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, guitar on the other hand, tuned completely different than the violin. A whole nother set of skills, definitely a stringed instrument held in the same way as the mandolin, but a whole nother universe of tuning and technique. So this guy really was super duper, you know, just primed to be a brilliant musician.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, yeah. And guitar tunes, as you said, a whole other bag of badgers. This is at least part of the reason he is primarily known as a violinist today. Later people would, the public, I mean, would learn about his virtuosity with the guitar. In 1797, he and his father, Paganini Sr. Go on tour. And little Nikki builds a reputation with every single concert he does because like.

[Noel Brown]

I said of the aforementioned shredding, the guy tosses his hair around and, like, rends his garments practically. I mean, I bet you he at some point did the move where he slides on his knees across the stage. Had that level of flair. You know, the only historical classical music analog that I can think of that reminds me of him has been.

[Ben Bolan]

Who is that?

[Noel Brown]

Ron's list.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, listen.

[Noel Brown]

List Mania. Rand's list was similarly a big, showy, flashy performer and had women, like, literally throwing their pantaloons at him.

[Ben Bolan]

Often considered the first analog to the rock star and shout out Phoenix.

[Noel Brown]

Very much so. And also the very delightfully schlocky 60s film Listomania. But I would definitely say that Paganini is in the running for another proto rock star.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, for sure. Yeah. In 1800, he and his father traveled to Livorno, where Paganini plays in more concerts and his dad again tries to be salesperson for boating paraphernalia. You can probably hear me rolling my eyes. And that's just because he had to make a living. No one knew what was going to happen to Paganini at this point. He's like 17 years old. He's already making waves. But, you know, sometimes the brightest stars burn briefest. And we didn't know that he was going to be this amazing musical force in 1801. He's 18 years old, and he is appointed first violin of the Republic of Luca Noel. Maybe could tell our fellow ridiculous historians a little bit about the prestige of being first violin in these kind of groups.

[Noel Brown]

Just means you're the best. You know, people have. They call it first chair. You're just the number one hot shredder in New York City.

[Ben Bolan]

You shake the conductor's hand at the very beginning.

[Noel Brown]

You certainly do. You also are the person that provides the initial tuning pitch for the entire orchestra. It's a big deal. And oftentimes you're the person that gets the solos. And I mean, they'll have like featured artists that come in and do solos. But like, yeah, the first. First chair violinist is a very important leadership position in any orchestra.

[Ben Bolan]

You know who I love in any orchestra or we. We are immensely fortunate to have the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra here. And I go pretty often because I just dig the vibe of the place. And it's by a museum that I go to already. And my fav. One of my favorite performers just. Just for their energy is always the percussionist in the group who have. Who don't have beat me here, Max. Who don't have to do for like eight to 10 minutes. And then it's time for the cymbals. Right. It's time for the big drums. And they just.

[Noel Brown]

The tambourine shake is one of my favorites. And they just go so flourishy. Tambourine shake. You're right.

[Ben Bolan]

I love the. I've only seen this in real life a couple of times. But I did see a person who was on the miscellaneous percussion. But they were on a song where they just had some triangle business going on.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah.

[Ben Bolan]

And they just.

[Noel Brown]

Triangle's an important part of the orchestra.

[Ben Bolan]

But they just stared at the sheep. Music stock still.

[Noel Brown]

Absolutely.

[Ben Bolan]

Like a scarecrow Halloween statue. And then when their time came, they hit that ding. And they hit that ding perfectly.

[Noel Brown]

The occasional clippity clop.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, yeah.

[Noel Brown]

I think I saw a really great video. I think it was. I think I'm describing this correctly. It was a percussionist who. Exactly what you're describing. Been waiting in that moment. And then hit the big skin drum, big bass drum with a mallet. And it bounced it out of his hand.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, no.

[Noel Brown]

Hit somebody in the back of the head.

[Ben Bolan]

Paganini would never.

[Noel Brown]

Well, I mean, he might. He might have lost himself in the music, you know, the moment he wanted. He didn't let it go because he was pagan.

[Ben Bolan]

Right, Right. And a substantial portion of Paganini's income came from freelancing, even when he had the prestigious role of first violin. This sounds like a meteoric rise to fame. But the success story was not perfect. It hit some discordant notes. I know Paganini didn't just act like a rock star on stage. He had all the vices of a rock star from, you know, the halcyon era of the 1970s. He loved gambling. He loved romancing people on a very short term basis. How's that for diplomacy?

[Noel Brown]

I think it's good.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah.

[Noel Brown]

He did indeed. He was no stranger to diabolical rumors from the start. This sounds like a plot lifted directly out of the incredibly good TV series Hannibal. Rumors ran amok about his having murdered a woman and used her intestines as violin strings and imprisoning her soul within the instrument. Right. It's just for fun. It is true that early violin strings were made from gut material. They were often made from cat guts. So you could, in fact harvest a human being's guts. And I'm not joking. This is in fact a plot of an episode of Hannibal where there's a murderous violin maker.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. And keep in mind, too Folks, of course, this is kind of our Halloween episode, so we're talking about these scary rumors. But keep in mind, back in this time, pre social media rumors were spread, word of mouth and usually just some. Often by the way by people who were making a joke and then someone else took it seriously. Satire sometimes gets lost in the game of telephone.

[Noel Brown]

People like to gab at Ben. Actually, you know what, here's a good chance to plug our sister podcast, stuff they don't want you to know. And an episode we've got that just came out about info hazards, the idea that an idea can infect you and be spread around like a disease. So rumors one could argue are infohazards.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, they're mimetic. That's a really good comparison. And that is. I really enjoyed that conversation. Me too.

[Noel Brown]

Big time.

[Ben Bolan]

I think we both still kind of have a stage high off of it because we recorded that yesterday.

[Noel Brown]

We did. And we just in general on that show and sometimes on the show we just really love thought experiments and there are so many fascinating thought experiments, including the idea of Rocco's basilisk that we discuss in that episode. So do check that out if you're not an initiate into the world of stuff they don't want you to know.

[Ben Bolan]

And do check out some more Paganini rumors.

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Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. So this guy is a mysterious dude. We'll talk a little bit more about his very singular appearance and the VI he cultivates. But he wanted these rumors. He invited these, solicited them. You could say as often as he solicited his lovers. Another rumor on the streets was that he his violin emitted the screams of women when he performed on stage. And you can read contemporary historical figures who Go to a Panini. Paganini concert. Not a Panini concert.

[Noel Brown]

You have a Panini at a Paganini.

[Ben Bolan]

I'm into the idea of a Panini concert. You know what I mean? Is that just like a parade of sandwiches.

[Noel Brown]

Well, Panini is an Italian sandwich, if I'm not mistaken. So perhaps at the refreshment counter at a Paganini concerto, one could enjoy a Panini.

[Ben Bolan]

I think women were screaming in the.

[Noel Brown]

Audience, by the way, like I said, it was a total, like Beatlemania type situation. Ben, I put a link in the chat. I just really would love you to see this image. I thought that I remembered seeing something like this, but it is such a cool painting or like etching kind of thing of Paganini ripping into the violin with his fingers flying and his silhouette on the wall is the devil.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, yeah, I've seen this one. I love it. I feel like this would be Paganini approved as well. The devil virtuoso.

[Noel Brown]

Well, Ben, don't you think he had. I mean, it was a little bit. I mean, I guess he was in a part of Europe. It was the 1800s. They weren't burning people up a stake anymore. It was just a little bit, you know, unclean. You know, kind of maybe the rumors. But I would think he would lean into this stuff because it's just absolutely fabulous. I mean, no, PR is bad pr. And people like, I gotta go see this devil. Demon possessed violinist.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. And for a long time, the violin was regarded by certain aspects of the European population as an instrument of the devil. Right. That's part of why we get the American folklore about the devil playing the fiddle. So it's not necessarily surprising that rumors about a deal with the devil will start circulating, at least for fun, when someone's really good at the violin. And some people even took it a step further and they said, maybe Paganini is the devil himself. That was, for the record, several of his exes who said that. But one of the. One of the first. Maybe one of the first rumors, and I think this is what the drawing that you shared shows us. One of the first rumors came out of a concert in Vienna where one audience member swore, seriously, from what we can tell, that they had seen the devil helping Paganini play on stage. And then other people started saying, I saw Paganini on the street, but when he isn't performing, he's rocking horns and hooves.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, I can picture it too, Ben, can't you? You know, like sort of doing that rooting sort of bull wind up thing with his right hoof. As he, you know, cocks his head and rips it on the violin. I can totally see this.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. Somebody said lightning struck the end of Paganini's bow during a performance and fire flew from his fingers as he rose and up his bow. Man, I love that Charlie Daniels song.

[Noel Brown]

Pain is a little hard if you lose it. If. I'll get those holes. Sorry, I'm.

[Ben Bolan]

That's the cool part.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, great too. Big influence, I would have to argue, on the band Primus, don't you think?

[Ben Bolan]

100%.

[Noel Brown]

Almost every song. Every Primus song sounds like Devil Went down to George.

[Ben Bolan]

Also. Uh, looking back, I think that was for. For many kids, that may have been their first introduction to rap cadence.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. That met. Damn it. About Damn.

[Ben Bolan]

Kind of.

[Noel Brown]

Also auctioneer cadence.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. Yeah. Going once, going twice.

[Noel Brown]

Fun tune, though. Holds up. I don't say you should if you have. If you likely you have only heard bits of it. I do recommend listening to it in one sitting. Cause it is a. It is a romp. It's a battle, really. It tells itself.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. It's a. It's a long form narrative. It's pretty good. I'm going to listen to it after this again. So. One thing was for sure, though. All of these rumors about occult or infernal activity came about as satire or as an attempt to explain just why this guy was so good. His skill on the violin was unparalleled. He was one of the first solo violinists. This is fascinating. He's one of the first solo violinists to perform in public without sheet music. Instead, he chose to memorize everything. And he was cool with some of his contemporaries, you know, other people who are professional violinists. If he liked a composition somebody made, then he would do his own cover version of it. And he would just kind of, you know, go Charlie Daniels with it. Because he's. Since he doesn't have sheet music, he's just running around the state, you know? You know what I mean? Like a 1970s guy, lead guitarist.

[Noel Brown]

Exactly.

[Ben Bolan]

Like.

[Noel Brown]

What's that guy's name? Angus from AC DC Always kind of hoofing around, you know, like with his foot out, kind of jumping, doing the little Marty McFly kind of dance.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. And still he's got a pretty serious gambling problem. So. Being a famous musician, as we can unfortunately assure you, does not always make you a wealthy person.

[Noel Brown]

Well, that's right. I was going to say earlier the reason he needed to supplement his income with freelance, you know, solo violin gigs is because being a first chair, while prestigious and depending on the orchestra doesn't typically pay a whole heck of a lot. It is not a life of luxury. No.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, yeah. And add to that, you lose. In Paganini's case, he's losing a lot of his disposable income because he loves the gambling. You know, he serves at the pleasure of the fates and fortune, and he loses a lot. He pawned his own violin one time because he just had to get out of this gambling debt. A French merchant came and saved the day. They lent him. I don't know. Have you heard of this? You're more familiar with violins than I am. Have you heard of a Guarneri violin?

[Noel Brown]

I haven't, but I'm sure it's just like a Maker's Mark kind of situation, you know, like a very, like, you know, I mean, the big famous one is Stradivarius. Those are still around and incredibly sought after and incredibly expensive. But I do know that, like, really serious violinists often will have instruments that are worth tens of thousands of dollars and have to be insured for super high amounts.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, I bet.

[Noel Brown]

Because they're one of a kind, you know, handmade. And that's. That's likely what the deal was with this. I'm not familiar with that particular.

[Ben Bolan]

Okay, well, this. This guy, French merchant, you know, think of him like the upper middle class, kind of. Let's call him kindly, A kindly French merchant. Lent Paganini a violin, said, you know, I know you gotta play this concert. I believe in music, you know, give me a plus one to your concert. You could borrow my violin. And after he heard Paganini play, he was so moved that he gave Nick the violin he heard him play. And he said, oh, dang. All right, bro, you keep it. We don't know too much more about how stuff worked out with that French merchant, but we do know that Paganini was what I call a known lothario. He had many, many intimate after dark intimate partners. Intimate partners after dark experiences. He was a busy boy off stage.

[Noel Brown]

He did get busy off stage. Again, this plays into the whole kind of mythos of the rock star. However you may look at that lifestyle, it definitely is a thing, and this guy lived it. Many sexual partners. Amid all of those partners was at least one who was considered kind of the love of his life type figure. A singer named Antonia Bianchi, who he met in Milan in 1813. They would do concerts together throughout Italy and had a son together named Acili Ciccio Alessandro. Born on July 23rd of 1825 in Palermo. Baptized at Saint Bartolomeo's and they actually never officially legalized their partnership.

[Ben Bolan]

Let's just say they had an entanglement, a situation.

[Noel Brown]

They didn't. That situationship came to an end April of 1828, in Vienna. And for a little bit of context, around this part of the world or this part of Italy. If anyone's seen the second season of the White Lotus, the HBO series about the, you know, the resort and all of the crimey wimey shenanigans that ensue, they go to Palermo, and it is an island, like, off of the coast of. Of. I can't remember exactly. Maybe it is Milan. I think it is where the actual resort is. But the Palermo part is where the. Is where they go for the kind of finale, the big climax.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. Palermo is the capital of Sicily, and Vienna, Austria, is so not too far away. But when things don't work out for them, they're in Austria. That's where it ends. If we trail, we're jumping around in time a little bit here.

[Noel Brown]

As is our right.

[Ben Bolan]

As is our want. Paganini becomes a violinist earlier in 1805, for the. How would you say this Bacciocchi court.

[Noel Brown]

Sure. Yeah. Maybe put a little more stank on it. Baciochi.

[Ben Bolan]

All right. I don't want to be that guy in Taco Bell asking for a quesadilla.

[Noel Brown]

I do that in honor of my father. He did it all the time. I've carried on that legacy of cringe.

[Ben Bolan]

So this guy is. He's a court violinist. He's still gambling. You know, it's the early 1800s. He is giving private lessons to the husband of Elisa Bonaparte, who is Napoleon's sister, and her husband is named Felice. And while Paganini is teaching this guy to play violin for a decade, by the way, he's also sleeping with Alisa.

[Noel Brown]

What a cad. What a rapscallion. A scallywag. Yeah. A real lout rake.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. And he. He has to hit the road, Jack, at a. As a result, the heat's getting too much, so he returns to Turing, like you said, Parma, Genoa. He's popular with local audiences, but he's not super well known to the rest of Europe. Until his first big break, an 1813 concert in Milan. This is where he gets a huge following. This is where rumors start spreading about his spellbinding powers. And is packed with the forces of evil, by the way. Rumors that he never publicly rejected.

[Noel Brown]

That's what I'm saying. It would make sense, you know, if he was not feared for his, you know, safety. Why not lean into it? It's a point of interest. I would certainly want to. Want to get in on this particular satanic panic.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, yeah, yeah. And that's just what it was. Right. Perhaps not as dangerous as the Inquisition. Right. If it was just a. He was a naughty boy who was edgy, who is Alice Cooper esque.

[Noel Brown]

An original Edge Lord.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, yeah. And he leaned into it because he composed what is often described as a fiendishly difficult set of variations called the Witches.

[Noel Brown]

La Strega.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, yeah. Just so. And he rocked out. This gave him the attention of other prominent, perhaps more conservative musicians across Europe.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. The thing that was neat and sort of unique about Paganini was that he didn't use sheet music because he memorized all of his stuff, which gave him the freedom to do all of those stage theatrics that we were talking about, like, you know, swaying, quite literally rocking the F out. And he started to attract the attention of other prominent, yet more conservative musicians across Europe who maybe looked a bit askance at his shenaniganry. One of his early encounters with Charles Philippe Lafont and Louis Spohr birthed a very intense rivalry.

[Ben Bolan]

Yes. Which continued for quite some time. He was friends with other musicians, but not friends with all of them. He was also.

[Noel Brown]

People didn't like his vibe.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, yeah. Not everything is for everyone. You know. One guy who did like him was the Pope. I guess that's a flex. In 1827, Pope Leo 12 gave Paganini the Order of the Golden Spur, which was a big deal in the.

[Noel Brown]

We must not have heard the devil rumors. What do you think about that?

[Ben Bolan]

You know, I wonder about that one, too, honestly. Maybe that was a. Maybe he just got cosigns from both sides of the aisle.

[Noel Brown]

I guess. So it's better to have him in our corner. Right. For when the infernal one comes down and starts taking names.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah.

[Noel Brown]

His fame begins to truly spread across Europe. He goes on like a proper rock star concert concert tour that began in Vienna in 1828. Stopped in every single major European city in Germany, Poland, Bohemia, running until February of 1831, when he played in Strasbourg.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. And then he moves on with more tours around Paris and Britain. He gets pretty much unanimous critical acclaim because he's just good.

[Noel Brown]

Yes.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah.

[Noel Brown]

He was a badass. He was a bad mama jammer.

[Ben Bolan]

As long as he could. As long as he could get on stage. He was no stranger to chronic illness. We're going to dive into that in a second, but we know that Being a relatively sickly child and sickly adult and also frequently touring probably had an effect on his health. And then it didn't help that he also got syphilis as early as 1822. The treatment he was given for syphilis was mercury and opium, which are, by the way. Yeah. Not things you should take even if you don't have syphilis.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. I mean, opium, you know, okay. That you probably have a good old time with that. But mercury, they kind of went. That went on to figure out that that stuff made you crazy. And if I'm not mistaken, so does syphilis. Given enough time to metastasize. By the way, Ben, it always occurs to me when we're talking about people like this, whether they be great performers or speakers or whatever, and the thought that crosses my mind is, are there recordings? And the good news is kind of, yes. You know, we haven't really pushed this home, but we kind of leaning more on his performance skills. But he was a composer. Yes, he wrote all his music. He wrote original music, which required the level and skill that he had. And so there would be, you know, some people wouldn't be able to pull this stuff off. You can find wax cylinder recordings in the British Library. Thought to be one of Paganini's only pupils, Actually, I think his only pupil, Camillo Sivori, and that includes his Witch's Dance. And Sivori, who also composed in the style of Paganini's second violin, can share, too. I am not seeing if there are any actual Paganini, because I guess he couldn't really do recordings until the early 1900s. And we lost him just before the technology, I think, came into its own.

[Ben Bolan]

You know what? Let's play just briefly so everybody can hear it. Let's play a little bit of a Paganini composition.

[Noel Brown]

Yes.

[Ben Bolan]

So here's a snippet of the Witches Dance. The violinist shakes the hand. Yeah. All right. The conductor's warming up. All right. He's doing his own weird hand thing. So there's multiple people playing. You gotta wait for our guy that the first violin to hop in. And here he comes.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, yeah.

[Ben Bolan]

So in like, the 17, 1800s, this would be like hearing Jimi Hendrix.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, 100%. Listen to those runs. I mean, he also kind of created some unique stylistic touches of his own that we'll get to in a minute. But those are called, like, those really fast runs, glissando kind of things. It's very, very difficult. And if anyone has ever had a sibling or maybe themselves tried to take up the violin. It sounds horrible. Unless you're really, really good, right?

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. Because unlike your favorite guitar, the violin doesn't have frets. You gotta.

[Noel Brown]

And it's a very small fingerboard, you know, and you know, when you first start. I started playing Suzuki violin, which also leans heavily into memorization, which I thought was interesting. They put tapes, little pieces of tape on the fretboard, on the fingerboard, so that you know where the main notes are. But once you start getting more advanced, you start to shift your hand around and like shift up and up and up. And sometimes do things called like double stops, where you'll play two strings at a time and make these like little kind of mini chords and all on this tiny piece of physical real estate.

[Ben Bolan]

It's funny, the memorization, which I do believe is impressive. Just the muscle memory of it. It reminds me of when I ask my accomplished trombonist friends to show me, without the trombone, what a note looks like. And they have it down and it looks really cool when they just stretch their arm to a certain degree and say, this is this and this. So shout out to you, tromboneist. I don't think you get enough love and you're an important part of the crew. How did Paganini get so good? Well, going back to that small fingerboard conversation, he was a very, very flexible guy.

[Noel Brown]

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Don't miss it.

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Required, regulatory fees included for qualifying accounts, $35 connection charge applies. He was basically Gumby on stage, and few later historians and researchers would wonder whether this came from something called Ehlers Don Lo syndrome or possibly MAR fans, which people speculate Abraham Lincoln might have had as well because of the way.

[Noel Brown]

Bradford Cox from the band Deer Hunter has has been very open about his MAR F syndrome. He's a very tall and lanky fellow and has actual health consequences, but it does result in sort of a very tall and skinny frame.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. And whether you have Mar Van or Ehlers Daumlos, we have a lot of speculation that this condition may have been part of how he was able to go at the violin with such phenomenal speed and not always have to change his position. His fingers were just super flexible, which meant that he could hit these huge stretches and these runs with relative ease.

[Noel Brown]

You know, I'm not going to dox anybody, but we do have a close friend, both of you and I, mutual, who has Ehlers Danlos. And it is not some sort of debilitating. I guess there maybe are stages of it, but what it typically results in is just a very stretchy and flexible skin.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, it's kind of a Gumby situation. And bro, if you're listening, you know, we're saying that out of affection. And I love when that guy explains it to people. It's always like he's got his presentation down pat, you know what I mean? With the super flexible stuff. Also, it helps fight wrinkles. Right?

[Noel Brown]

Right. Yeah, yeah. The friend that I'm talking about has.

[Ben Bolan]

A perpetually youthful glow and also a youthful fun vibe. I love that guy. All right, so Paganini widely employs the special effects of the violin world. He's got a high speed left hand pizzicato. He barely touches the strings to make some ghosty sounds. And the pizzicato is where the upper fingers of the left hand pluck the string while the lower ones hold down the notes.

[Noel Brown]

Sort of pizzicato in general is just plucking the violin, but he's doing a form of pizzicato that's like even more advanced and I think is borderline of his own design. So what he would do is he would be plucking with his left hand, which is the hand you typically push down the strings on. That's the left hand. And then he could also be. He'd sort of like a hammer on. On a guitar where you pull up on the string and it makes a plucking sound. But he would combine that with hitting it with the bow in between and then even plugging with the right hand. And there are some really, really fancy, the showy violin pieces that incorporate that technique and the ghosty harmonics that you were describing. There's a really beautiful piece when I was at my kind of advancedist in violin called the Char Dosh. It's a very famous. You've probably heard it goes. Anyway, there's a whole part in it that uses these double harmonics where you have to so gently Touch your pink at an exact fifth interval and just touch it of the finger. You're putting down the string. And it creates this really kind of ghostly harmonic sound. They're called artificial harmonics.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah.

[Noel Brown]

And I'm a nerd.

[Ben Bolan]

And he also had a lot of these double stops, two notes played simultaneously. Every way you can imagine a bow touching a violin and producing a sound. He did it. You know, he basically. He knew all the super moves. And he had been called by multiple people, faultless beyond imagination, utterly unique and gifted beyond, you know, beyond mortal kin. Because he was such a successful virtuoso, it became a coup of your own if you were in the audience. And he cultivated. This is what we're talking about earlier, his appearance. He cultivated a purposefully edgy appearance. He wanted to look like a fan of the film the Crow. He was pale. He was gaunt. He had eternally messy black hair. He always wore a long frock coat. And because he had an earlier botched operation on his jaw.

[Noel Brown]

Seriously?

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. He had a weird. He always had a kind of weird expression. So he looked like a spooky guy.

[Noel Brown]

He did look like a bit of a ghoul, didn't he? Yes. So since we're in spooky season, you know what? I also bet Ben I'm picturing a bit of a smell.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, come on, man. It was.

[Noel Brown]

Don't know why. I just. I picture a bit of a tour.

[Ben Bolan]

Bus smell in this era.

[Noel Brown]

It was already smelly.

[Ben Bolan]

Everything stank. You know what I mean? I think that was. Oh, gosh. We were talking with Bahamas about that a while ago. Yes. AJ Bahamas Jacobs, one of our smartest friends.

[Noel Brown]

Remember when we talked to Mo Rocca and he was just talking about.

[Ben Bolan]

Mostly said the same thing.

[Noel Brown]

He was talking about the 70s in New York City. As recently as the 70s, everyone smelled like BO on the subway. It's very, very true. This was a different time for bo. And I'm just thinking our boy Paganini was a bit of a stinker.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. Hate to profile. I don't know why, but he's got the look.

[Noel Brown]

He does have the look. The unkempt. I bet that frock coat. Bet it didn't get laundered too frequently.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. How many frock coats did he have? That's up. Closet full.

[Noel Brown]

Did he even have a closet at this point? He seemed like he was a bit of a transient.

[Ben Bolan]

Well, in 1836, he goes back to Paris to set up a casino, and the casino fails.

[Noel Brown]

That goes well, right?

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, it fails terribly, Cartoonishly. Dare I Say, ridiculously, it left him in financial. Dire Straits, not the band.

[Noel Brown]

You don't have no microwave oven. You know that song drops a slur very casually. I did not realize it until very recently when I was. I was trying to show my kid the video because it was that classic, early MTV computery video. And then the second verse, I mean, to be fair, it is sort of playing a character. Who would use that word? Fine, but it's not good. It does not age well.

[Ben Bolan]

No, no, no. And then we've got. What's the name of that? Is it Money for Nothing?

[Noel Brown]

Money for Nothing. Is it Chicks for free or Checks for Free?

[Ben Bolan]

I think it's Money for nothing and Chicks for Free.

[Noel Brown]

Chicks for Free. Okay, let us know, let us know.

[Ben Bolan]

Dire Straits.

[Noel Brown]

Yes, indeed. They're still kicking around.

[Ben Bolan]

And because the casino is ruined, he has to auction off a bunch of his personal effects. So if he had multiple frock coats, he does it anymore. He has to auction off his musical instruments to make good on his losses. He leaves Paris for Marseille in 1838 during Christmas. Then he travels to Nice, and the entire time his medical condition is getting worse and worse and worse. It's 1840. The local bishop sends Paganini, a priest, to perform the last rites. And Paganini is pissed off. He pretty much says, come on, guys, guys, I'm not dead yet. Why are you here? And he turns the priest away because he says, you know, I'm not going to die yet. That's the official explanation. But for people who believe the rumor that he was the Devil's violinist, they thought he had already sworn allegiance to infernal powers and as such, could not take last rites in the church. Anyway, it looks like the bishop who sent the priest was onto something, because Paganini dies a week later, May 1840. May 27, 1840. He's just 57 years old.

[Noel Brown]

Yes, he died as he lived, fast and loose.

[Ben Bolan]

That's a heck of a way to describe internal hemorrhaging.

[Noel Brown]

I know, exactly. Internal hemorrhaging, indeed. Was this a complication from his syphilis?

[Ben Bolan]

It had to be a culmination of multiple things.

[Noel Brown]

It would seem so.

[Ben Bolan]

We talked about genetic conditions, syphilis, tuberculosis, whatever else he picked up in his adult adventures. It's a weird pause. I'm trying for the diplomacy here, folks. This is how we know that he had this association with the Devil. The Catholic Church denied his body a Catholic burial in Genoa.

[Noel Brown]

But the Popa loved him.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, yeah, but where are you in.

[Noel Brown]

His hour of need? Where is hour of Burial need.

[Ben Bolan]

Where is job rule it took. But the. Okay. Like his fans though are the equivalent of barbs. Is that the Nicki Minaj fans?

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, these are barbs. Yep.

[Ben Bolan]

Or whatever.

[Noel Brown]

Barbs. And the Beyhive or Swifties. And beyond Swifties Bay High, there's another. What? You know what they call Chapel Roan fans now? I don't know, that was too new. The chaps, the chapsters, Charlie xcx, OG fans are angels because Charlie's Angels, you.

[Ben Bolan]

Know, I get it. Well, he had this kind of fandom, you know, what do they call.

[Noel Brown]

What can we give them a name band? The Nene.

[Ben Bolan]

I like that. Yeah.

[Noel Brown]

The. No, no.

[Ben Bolan]

Oh, the Pagans.

[Noel Brown]

The Pagans, like the cult. The cult followers.

[Ben Bolan]

There we go.

[Noel Brown]

Can you believe the guy didn't think to start a cult of Paganini?

[Ben Bolan]

I.

[Noel Brown]

A little harder guy.

[Ben Bolan]

I think he was a one on one kind of guy.

[Noel Brown]

I think that's probably true.

[Ben Bolan]

You know what I mean? And probably with people he's trying to sleep with.

[Noel Brown]

That's what I was about. Yeah.

[Ben Bolan]

Anyways, fans, the Pagans, they spend four years lobbying the Catholic chur, appealing to the Pope to let this guy's body be transported back to Genoa. He goes on a posthumous tour. He's taken to Genoa. He's still not buried. He's finally buried in 1876. So many years after he dies, he is buried in a cemetery in Parma.

[Noel Brown]

You know, this reminds me of. Remember when James Brown passed away and like he, he went unburied for months. I want to say he died on Christmas Day of whatever year that was and they kept his body like in a freezer or something or like a refrigerator. In his own. On his own property, I want to say. Because there were a lot of legal issues around his estate and all of that, but it was the weirdest thing. Like there was a whole like, what's the deal with James Brown's burial? Very similar.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah. And this is only one story of a musician rumored to have sold their soul to the devil. We know that Paganini's body was finally reinterred in a new cemetery still in Parma in 1896. He has found peace. We cannot speak to any direct proof of supernatural affiliation, but we can say some people genuinely believe he had made a deal with the devil because he was just that good. So if you want an obscure Halloween costume. Costume. Or if you don't want to dress up, just mess up your hair, put on a long coat and tell people you're Paganini for Halloween.

[Noel Brown]

Exactly. That'd be a fun costume. There was one thing in the Beetlejuice movie, the new Beetlejuice movie that I thought was kind of cute. I was a little ragged on. It's okay. It's fine. But the young Lydia Deets daughter character played by Jenna Ortega, dresses up as Marie Curie for Halloween. And like, she's got like, sort of like, like bags under her eyes. Like it's meant to represent like radiation poisoning. I love the idea of deep cut historical Halloween costumes. I think Paganini would be a good one.

[Ben Bolan]

That's a cool. Yeah, it's a cool idea. The more I think about more I like it. I love obscure costumes. No. Only really backfired once. I don't think we knew each other. I dressed as H.H. holmes and I looked. I. I did it.

[Noel Brown]

Porn's star?

[Ben Bolan]

No, the. The serial killer from Devil in the White City.

[Noel Brown]

My mistake.

[Ben Bolan]

Had.

[Noel Brown]

I was thinking of John. Sorry, different.

[Ben Bolan]

Different Holmes, but HH Holmes. Please read the Devil in the White City if you haven't. It's just a fantastic book. H.H. holmes, Real Monster. Kind of a deep cut. And here's why it backfired. The one person other than my girlfriend at the time who recognized me was super. Not chill.

[Noel Brown]

No.

[Ben Bolan]

Was very excited that they met someone dressed as HH Holmes and wanted to hang out.

[Noel Brown]

What does that say about this person?

[Ben Bolan]

Not, you know, first impressions aren't the measure the width and span of a human character. But that lady had a creepy vibe.

[Noel Brown]

Well, speaking of creepy vibes and serial killer, since we're wrapping up this episode, and Ben, huge thanks to you for putting together this incredible brief on such an incredibly weird and I guess, divisive fellow. I did want to make a spooky season film recommendation.

[Ben Bolan]

Ooh, let's hear it.

[Noel Brown]

It is called Red Rooms and it is a French Canadian kind of procedural horror, you know, serial killer type thing. But it is all from the perspective of a super fan of this serial killer who is on trial. And it does some of the most incredible things with. There's. I don't know if anyone's familiar. Not to be too heavy, but the idea of Red Rooms is sort of an Internet rumor, kind of like snuff films. The idea that on the dark web there exist these murder films that you can bid on or watch cams of or whatever. And they are largely thought to be mythical, but in the reality of this movie, they are not mythical. And this gentleman has perpetrated multiple of these and you experience others watching them, but you don't ever see Them, you just see their reactions and hear the sound. And I swear, Ben, it is one of the most stunning and haunting horror type films I've ever seen. It's. It's up there to me with like a Silence of the Lambs type situation. I highly. I can't recommend that enough.

[Ben Bolan]

Do check it out, folks. I will do the same. And let us know your favorite Halloween films and rewatches. I. I'm all. It's always Halloween in America, in my opinion. So I'm always watching. Yeah, so I'm always watching horror films. Thanks, as always, ridiculous historians for tuning in. Big, big thanks to our super producer, Mr. Max Williams. I called him the Oogie Boogie man earlier because I was up really late last night and Nightmare Before Christmas came on and I came on.

[Noel Brown]

Ben, you have like cable or something? What are we talking?

[Ben Bolan]

Well, not to high road anybody, you know what I mean? But it popped on. And I remember distinctly thinking, well, I can't go to sleep now. I've got to see what happens in this movie that I've watched clearly like 30 times.

[Noel Brown]

Well, the 4K remaster looks fantastic.

[Ben Bolan]

Stunning, right?

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, very, very, very cool. Big fan of Nightmare Before Christmas as well. And big fan of you, Ben, as well as you, super producer Max, as well as Alex Williams, who composed this theme.

[Ben Bolan]

And huge fans of Christopher Haciotes and Yves Jeffcoat here in spirit. Oh, our buddy Christopher is going to be performing at our local Atlantic Atlanta Write Club, I believe, on November 6th. It's a good show for a good cause. Check it out if you're in town. We also want to thank, with great reluctance, our pal Jonathan Strickland, who definitely made a deal with the devil. But for podcast.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, kind of a similarly bunk deal to the one I made for violining. Just kidding. Jonathan, you're great. You're great.

[Ben Bolan]

Yeah, we love you, man.

[Noel Brown]

Jesus, please. Ben, you got anything else to say?

[Ben Bolan]

Happy Halloween.

[Noel Brown]

Ah, yes. Happy Halloween indeed. We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Max Williams]

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[Noel Brown]

Water was born in New York City.

[Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford]

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[Ben Bolan]

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[Noel Brown]

Because we can do it all.

[Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford]

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[Noel Brown]

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[Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford]

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[Noel Brown]

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[Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford]

Drink Vitamin Water.

[Noel Brown]

It's from New York.

[Unknown]

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[Dr. Joy Hardin Bradford]

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[Ben Bolan]

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