The Condemnation of Paganini

His playing aroused delight and superstitious fear! Astonished Europe argued: was his great gift from God or from the devil, and how could a man make a piece of dead wood sound like that? Having become a target of attacks and slander, accused of all mortal sins, he fully tasted the bitterness of immense fame. But devoted to serving music all his life, he could not and would not betray it, and with every concert he burned himself in the fire of undying high art. The Genoese magician, the “southern sorcerer,” a wonder in the history of musical mastery… Niccolò Paganini, a misunderstood and therefore criminal genius!