Paganini, the Devil's Violinist
Niccolò Paganini played the violin so impossibly well that audiences whispered he had sold his soul. Some said they saw the Devil guiding his bow.
What was reported
Niccolò Paganini, born in Genoa in 1782, was the most famous violinist of his age. Tall and gaunt, dressed in black, he played with a speed and skill no one had heard before, sometimes on one string after he'd snapped the others.
Rumours spread that he'd made a pact with the Devil, and some in his audiences claimed to have seen a demonic figure beside him while he played. He did little to stop them, since they sold tickets. When he died in 1840, the Church refused him a Christian burial at first, and it was years before he was laid to rest in Parma.
Explanations offered
His skill came from relentless practice from childhood, and some doctors have suggested his unusually flexible fingers came from a condition such as Marfan or Ehlers–Danlos syndrome. The burial was delayed partly because he died without seeing a priest, which fed the rumours.
- When
- 1800s
- Where
- Genoa, Liguria, Italy
- Witnesses
- Audiences across Europe
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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