Niccolò Paganini. A Re-evaluation of his Legend

Scientific Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Musicology - Miscellaneous, grade: 1st class, Royal Holloway, University of London (University of London), course: Research, language: English, abstract: This study constitutes a unique and dedicated attempt to address the extent to which Paganini's character has been misrepresented to date. Making detailed reference to biographies and previous writings on Paganini, it dismantles the myth-making surrounding the violinist's legendary status, and overturns the common perceptions of Paganini as a gambler, compulsive womanizer, murderer, wrecker of relationships, miser, vulgarian and heathen. It attempts to depict the 'real' Paganini, and demonstrates that there is little, if any, justification for the excessive calumny to which the renowned violinist was subjected in his lifetime and beyond.

Vivienne Suvini-Hand is a professor emerita of italian literature and music at Royal Holloway, the University of London. She gained a first class honour degree in Italian and French at Trinity College, Dublin in 1983, also winning the French Government Award for that year. She went on to study at New College, Oxford, transferring to Linacre College on the award of a scholarship, and gaining a Doctorate (D. Phil) at Oxford University in 1989. She became a lecturer in Italian at Royal Holloway, the University of London in 1988, a Senior Lecturer in 1999, a Reader in 2003, and a Professor of Literature and Music in 2005. Professor Suvini-Hand has published widely in academic, peer-reviewed journals on modern Italian and European poetry, eighteenth to twentieth-century opera, Italian film, Italian instrumental music, and the relationship between libretti and music in the work of avant-garde composers. Her major book publications include: Andrea Zanzotto (Edinburgh: EUP, 1994), Mirage and Camouflage: Hiding behind Hermeticism in Ungaretti's L'Allegria (Leicester: Troubador, 2000) and Sweet Thunder: Music and Libretti in 1960s Italy (Oxford: Legenda, 2006). She is currently pursuing research on the nineteenth-century Italian virtuoso violinist, Niccolò Paganini, and is the author of many articles on the representation of Paganini in the visual arts and literature. She has been the recipient of grants from major educational bodies for the production of a CD on the music of Luigi Dallapiccola (Nuova Era), monographic concerts on contemporary composers at the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, and conferences and concerts organized by the European Music Society. She has written for The Times newspaper, and reviewed classical concerts at the Barbican, London for Bachtrack. In addition to her writing career, Vivienne is a qualified classical singer, violinist and music teacher with a passion for the musical education of young people. For this reason she frequently publishes childrens' literature on cultural and educational topics. Paganini, "Little Pagan". The Life of Paganini in Verse (with a scholarly introduction and notes) (Charleston SC, 2017) is her latest book of this type, aimed at introducing the life and times of Paganini to both young and adult readers. Professor Suvini-Hand's full profile and publications list can be consulted at http://tinyurl.com/ogs6b6y.