Talk:Niccolò Paganini

Spelling of Nicolo Paganini's name

This wiki article has been propagating a common misspelling of Paganini's first name. While this may have become a "conventionally predominant spelling," it is actually a conventionally predominant misspelling. Both spellings are very common. However, the more legitimate sources have his name spelled with only one c, as is seen on his tomb on this very page. A copy of his signature can be seen by visiting https://www.schubertiademusic.com/lots/index/page:6/catalog:12 I have seen his signature on other material as well, and it is always with only one c. I believe he should have know how to spell his own name. I really don't think it is proper for wikipedia to continue to spell the name incorrectly just because it is spelled incorrectly in other places. Lost Josephine Minor (talk) 03:20, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Kennedy, Michael (2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, gives 'Niccolò', but what about Grove? Does anyone have access? --Kleinzach 08:11, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Looking on the web, I see that both spellings are just about equally common. One source suggests that Paganini himself alternated between them, which would certainly explain the confusion. --Kleinzach 10:38, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

There are two entries in Oxford Music Online for "Paganini, Nicolò" (by Edward Neill, Grove Music Online; by Roger Parker, Oxford Companion to Music) and one for "Paganini, Niccolò" (by Michael Kennedy, The Oxford Dictionary of Music).
Searching Oxford Music Online for "Nicolò Paganini" gives 15 results, searching for "Niccolò Paganini" gives 3. None of the three biographies mention the other spelling, although the entry by Neill (who uses one "c") gives a bibliographic entry: "G.C. Conestabile: Vita di Niccolò Paganini (Perugia, 1851, rev. 2/1936 by F. Mompellio)". Most of the other-language Wikipedias use "Niccolò". The Italian mentions "Nicolò", the Hungarian, a Featured Article, doesn't. I think a footnote will do. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 12:17, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

PS: Google counts in the English Wikipedia 26 results for "Nicolo Paganini" site:en.wikipedia.org and 363 for "Niccolo Paganini" site:en.wikipedia.org -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 12:26, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

I agree. An explanatory footnote would be a good idea. --Kleinzach 07:55, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

The current New Grove uses Nicolò. Slonimsky's Baker's Biographical Dictionary uses Niccolò. Both spellings are in common use. I agree with the explanatory footnote idea. Antandrus (talk) 02:16, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Why don't people just look up how his name is spelled on his grave. It's only one c! Here is the link [1] If I were Paganini, I would not be pleased if people three centuries later spell my name with an extra "c". --93.223.206.233 (talk) 14:26, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

According to this site he used both versions of his name. --Kleinzach 06:54, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

The site is a music publisher. Not WP:RS Wouldn't you say the writing on the tombstone is the final word? Lost Josephine Minor (talk) 05:27, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Absolutely not. By definition, Paganini did not carve his own gravestone. Someone else did. People make mistakes. The number of factual mistakes on gravestones are legion - we probably should have a whole article on them. Nor are gravestones necessarily correct about dates of birth etc. Nor are subjects themselves necessarily reliable sources about when they were born - they may have been there but they were hardly in a position to be the horses's mouth about the date. -- Jack of Oz [your turn] 05:56, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Richard Taruskin uses the spelling Niccolò in The Oxford History of Western Music, so most sources point towards 2 c's, though I agree that an explanatory footnoted should be included. --Ellise19 (talk) 17:24, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

Italy or Republic of Genoa ?

The article about Paganini states Genoa is in Italy :

Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa, Italy

The French invaded northern Italy in March 1796, and Genoa was not spared. The Paganinis sought refuge in their country

According to this very wikipedia, Genoa was an independant state from 1005 to 1797 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Genoa

89.86.131.99 (talk) 22:44, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

I think "Italy" in this case refers to the geographical region, which has been in use from the time the Romans took control of the enire peninsula. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.25.152.18 (talk) 21:49, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Not was only Genova independent. Italy itself didn't exist until the middle of the 19th century. --2.245.159.17 (talk) 00:34, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

As an Italian, he probably consider himself Italian...like Vivaldi. In his letters he wrote “ travel to Italy” it was the middle of the 18th Century... I mean, probably Niccolò heard something about our country... Italy was an ideology already present in the inhabited areas of the peninsula since 1200 AngelicArt006 (talk) 11:47, 30 July 2020 (UTC)

Video files

The recent addition of video files for all 24 Caprices made this biography quite unbalanced. For a start, the length of the text of the article wasn't sufficient to accommodate all the thumbnails; the article's length was doubled with only white space at the left and thumbnails, starting at No. 9, running all by themselves down the right-hand side. This is seriously bad lay-out. I removed all of them and suggest they may better be shown at the 24 caprices' article. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 13:05, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

All those embedded video thumbnails make for seriously bad layout, both here and at 24 Caprices for Solo Violin (Paganini). I've removed them again from this article; I am willing to live with the layout issues at the article on the caprices themselves, hoping that someone finds a way to collapse the thumbnails. __Just plain Bill (talk) 01:55, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Watercolor of Paganini on His Deathbed

The meta information for the watercolor lists the author as unknown. But a look at the actual picture shows it to be signed and dated quite legibly: A. Wechsler, 1920. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.58.36.36 (talk) 18:31, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

Achille Paganini's baptism

"baptized at San Bartolomeo's"? Since there is no parish church "San Bartolomeo" in Palermo, this is a mistake and should be corrected.--178.191.69.170 (talk) 08:42, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

Forged photograph

There is a photograph of Niccolò Paganini floating around the internet (and various books). Since Paganini died in 1840, it is extremely unlikely that he was photographed and it is believed that this photograph was actually forged in the 1890s. Just posting this as a heads up in case someone decides to add it here. Kaldari (talk) 23:21, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Removed text about concert schedule

For a while now There has been some commented-out text about Paganini's concert schedule in the article. The commenting was messed up in this edit by InternetArchiveBot and the text was subsequently removed altogether by 72.23.91.190. I think it's probably better to remove the text, but it also seemed like it was worth leaving a note here. I've filed a bug regarding InternetArchiveBot as T249420. Graham87 15:26, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• 20091104 Joshua Bell and Sharon Isbin - Paganini's Cantabile.ogv

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 04:04, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

Deal with the devil - specific ref?

The section Final years, death, and burial talks about him being denied a religious burial due in part to "his widely rumored association with the devil" - but that specific fact isn't immediately supported by a footnoted ref. What source supports this claim (not that there was a deal, but that there was a "widely rumored association")? I ask because I'm working to improve Crossroads (1986 film), which features a similar deal and quotes Paganini's 5th caprice (so it's certainly apt - if there's an RS). -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 22:04, 20 June 2021 (UTC)

Lack of infobox

I think that this page should have an infobox, but I don't know which specific one to do and I'm too lazy to do it myself. Wilh3lm^{Go here to trout me if I do a stupid} 20:13, 30 October 2021 (UTC)

Infoboxes have historically been very controversial on classical music articles, and still are to an extent. You'd have to get consensus to add an infobox here. I myself am meh on the subject. Graham87 08:56, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

Sorry for the late reply. I didn't know that. Wilh3lm^{Go here to trout me if I do a stupid} 15:18, 18 November 2021 (UTC)

Hello everyone. I would like to re-ignite the coals of this debate :)

I would be happy to add an Infobox Person which then gives his birth date, birth place, and occupation and signature. I would create it in a manner that matches Bach and Beethoven. According to Wikipedia:WikiProject Classical music/Guidelines, infoboxes potentially cause issues when some folk disagree about details. However I personally believe conflicts cannot arise from such simple facts as birth date and birth place.

Thank you and please drop an OK if you support the creation of this. If so, I will move forward and create this. The Fonz (talk) 14:15, 23 December 2022 (UTC)

I think this'd be better as an RFC like Talk:Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky#RFC regarding the addition of an infobox ... which is still going. Maybe wait until that's done before starting this one ... Graham87 04:59, 24 December 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: 19th Century Concert Life

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 January 2023 and 12 May 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jmares3218 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Jmares3218 (talk) 03:41, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 9 July 2024

Dramatic portrayals:

The musical Cross Road, premiered 2022 and revived 2024, features Niccolo Paganini as a main character, played by Hiroki Aiba (2022 and 2024), Kenta Mizue (2022), and Kento Kinouchi (2024). The story is about his making a contract with the Devil of Music, Amduscias, played by Akinori Nakagawa in both productions. The musical is by Bun-O Fujisawa, composed by Toshiyuki Muranaka. It was performed at Theater Creation in Tokyo, Japan, with a national tour in 2024. Official Site: Secondary Sources: Article by Sana Yoshida

There was another musical about Paganini, in Korea. This one is called Paganini, and it focuses on his son, Achille. EncreViolette (talk) 16:16, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

Um you literally became autoconfirmed a minute after submitting this request. You can make this change yourself now. Unless you in fact orchestrated this request to waste other editors' time, in which case you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Graham87 (talk) 02:52, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

References

Paganini Woodcut

I used to have a maternal uncle living in Toronto, and his favourite restaurant had an old woodcut of Paganini hanging on one wall. THe woodcut showed Paganini from behind playing his violin; he was holding it at least a foot from his head and not under his chin like modern violinists do.Glammazon2 (talk) 15:15, 14 August 2024 (UTC)