Books › Biographical notice of Nicolo Paganini, With and analysis of his compositions and a sketch of the history of the violin, 1876 › scan 67
Scan 67
Biographical notice of Nicolo Paganini, With and analysis of his compositions and a sketch of the history of the violin, 1876
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1upon me by the French public, so much encouraging approbation has been bestowed upon me, that I cannot avoid believing in the fame which it is said preceded me in Paris, and that I fell not short of my reputation at my concerts. But, if any doubt of that kind existed in my bosom, it would be removed by the eagerness evinced by your artists to produce my likeness, and by the great number of portraits of Paganini—faithful resemblances or not—which cover the walls of your city; but, sir, it is not only simple portraits that speculators of that nature stop at—for, while walking yesterday on the Boulevard des Italiens, I saw in a shop, where engravings are sold, a lithograph representing Paganini in prison. 'Oh!' I exclaimed, 'here are some honest folks who, after the fashion of Basile, make a profit out of certain calumnies which have pursued me for the last fifteen years.' However, I examined laughingly this mystification, with all the details that the imagination of the artist had conjured up, when I perceived that a large number of persons had congregated around me, each of whom, confronting my face with that of the young man represented in the lithograph, verified the change that had taken place in my person since my detention. I then saw that it was looked on in a serious light by those you call, I believe, louts, and that the speculation was a good one. It struck me that, as everybody must live, I might furnish the artists, who are kind enough to consider me worthy of their attention, with some anecdotes—anecdotes from which they could derive subjects of similar facetiae to the subject in question. It is to give them publicity, that I claim from your kindness the insertion of this letter in the 'Revue Musicale.'
3"They have represented me in prison; but they are ignorant of the cause of my incarceration; however, they know as much of that as I do myself, and those who concocted the anecdote. There are many stories in reference to this, which would supply them with as many subjects for their pencils; for example, it is stated that, having found a rival in my mistress' apartment, I stabbed him honourably in the back, while he was unable to defend himself. Others assert, that, in the madness of jealousy,
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