Tabloid Paganini?

Synopsis

If "Entertainment Tonight!" were around in Paris in 1831, they would probably have offered a breathless special edition report on a concert that occurred on today's date that year.

EVERYBODY who was ANYBODY was there: from the literary world, the French novelist Victor Hugo, author of "Les Miz," don't you know, and the writer Alfred de Mussett, who they SAY was living in sin with that cross-dressing Baroness, who, despite her sex, went by the name of George Sand. Oh, and the German poet Heinrich Heine was there, and from the music world, three of the leading opera composers of the day: the foreign born Giacomo Meyerbeer and Luigi Cherubini, and popular native son, Jacques Halevy. And who could miss the dashing, lion-maned Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt also seated in the theater?

They were all there to witness the Parisian debut of the most charismatic performer of his time, the Italian violinist Nicolo Paganini. It was whispered that the fourth string on his violin was made from the intestine of his mistress, murdered at his own hand, and that he had spent 20 years in prison for the crime, with his violin his sole companion. Others hinted he had actually made a pact with Satan, trading his immortal soul for superhuman virtuosity! He looked like death warmed over, thin and gaunt, but played like a man possessed.

Beat THAT, Ozzy Osbourne!

Music Played in Today's Program

Niccolo Paganini (1782 - 1840) Caprice No. 10 James Ehnes, violin Telarc 80398

On This Day

Births

• 1737 - Bohemian composer Josef Mysliveczek, in Ober-Sarka; He was a friend and colleague of Mozart;

• 1839 - Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky (Gregorian date: Mar. 21);

• 1910 - American composer Samuel Barber, in West Chester, Pa.;

• 1930 - American composer and jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman, in Forth Worth, Texas;

Deaths

• 1706 - Burial date of German composer Johann Pachelbel, age c. 52, in Nuremberg;

Premieres

• 1740 - Handel: oratorio "L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato," and Organ Concerto in Bb, Op. 7, no. 1, in London (Julian date: Feb. 27);

• 1748 - Handel: oratorio "Joshua," in London at the Covent Garden Theater; The event possibly included the premiere of Handel's "Concerto a due cori" No. 1 as well (Gregorian date March 20);

• 1842 - Verdi: opera "Nabucco" (Nabucodonosor), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala;

• 1844 - Verdi: opera "Ernani," in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice;

• 1849 - Nicolai: opera "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" (after Shakespeare's play "The Merry Wives of Windsor"), in Berlin at the Königliches Opernhaus;

• 1868 - Thomas: opera "Hamlet," (after Shakespeare's play "Hamlet") at the Paris Opéra;

• 1877 - Tchaikovsky: symphonic-fantasy "Fancesca da Rimini," in Moscow (Julian date: Feb. 25);

• 1924 - Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 5 (first version), in Paris, by the composer; A revised version of this sonata premiered in Alma-Ata (USSR) on February 5, 1954, by Anatoli Vedernikov;

• 1930 - Weill: opera "Die Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny" (The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny), in Leipzig at the Neues Theater;

• 1941 - Cowell: Symphony No. 2 ("Antropos"), in Brooklyn;

• 1951 - Honegger: Symphony No. 5 ("Di tre re"), by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

• 1980 - Earle Brown: "Caldar Piece," for percussionists and mobile, in Valencia, Calif.;

• 1982 - Berio: opera "La vera storia" (The True Story), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala;

Others

• 1831 - Italian violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini makes his Parisian debut a the Opéra; Composers in the audience include Meyerbeer, Cherubini, Halvéy; and Franz Liszt (who transcribes Pagnini's showpiece "La Campanella" for piano); Also in attendance are the many famous novelists and poets, including George Sand, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Mussset and Heinrich Heine.