Paesi

ello. Vide PAISIELLO. (piig-i-né’-né), Niccold, Genoa, Oct. 27, 1782—Nice, May 27, 1840; pre-eminent violin-virtuoso. Studied with G. Servetto and G. Dosta; at 8 he c. a vin.-sonata; at 9 _he in public succ.; from 1795 he studied with Ghiretti and Ale . (though denied this), at Parma. 1798, he ran away from his severe father after a concert at Lucca, and played at Pisa and other places. At 15 he was a pa ionate gambler, and very di ipated. Fits of gambling alternated with periods when he practised 10 hours a day, the result being a ruined constitution. He pawned his violin to pay a gambling debt, but a M. Levron presented him with a Joseph Guarnerius, P. ‘willed to Genoa. In 1804 he went home, and practised till 1805, when he had extraordinary succ. making a sensation by brilliant performances on the G string alone; soon ct.-soloist at Lucca; then to 1827 he toured Italy, crushing all rivalry with an extraordinary technic;' 1827, Pope Leo XII. conferred on him the Order of the Golden Spur; he played at Vienna, receiving from the municipality the great gold medal of St. Salvator; from the Emperor the honorary title of ct.-virtuoso. 1829, Berlin; 1831, Paris; 1831, London. 1833-34, Paris; then retired to his villa at Parma. He lost 50,000 francs on a scheme to establish a gambling house with concert-annex at Paris, the gambling-license being refused. Though his earnings were enormous, he was not generous spasmodically; Berlioz $4,000 as a compliment for his “Symphonie Fantast i que’’ (B. had written “Harold in Italy” for P.’s Strad i var i viola). He m. the singer Antonia Bianchi, and he left his son Achille $400,000 (£80,000). He died of phthisis of the larynx. technic was never equalled, and it provoked superstitious dread among his auditors, his ghoulish appearance aiding the impre ion. He was sometimes the charlatan and some of his effects were due to special tunings (scordatures), but his virtuosity has never been rivalled. C. 24 caprices for violin-solo; of which pf.-transcriptions Schumann and Liszt; 12 sonatas for violin and guitar (op. 2); do. (op. 3); 3 gran quartetti; concerto in Eb (solo part in D, for a vin. tuned a semitone high); concerto in B min.; “La Camp an ell a,” with Rondo a la clochette (op. 7); variations on many themes, “Le Sireghe,” “God save the King,” “The Carnival of Venice, etc.; concert Allegro “Moto petuo” (op. 12); a sonata accomp. of vin., ’cello or pf., and studies, etc. Biog. by Fétis (Paris, 1851; London, 1852); A. Niggli (1882); O. Bruni (Florence, 1873). Other studies by Stratton (1907), Prod’homme (1907), Bonaventura (x911), Kapp (1913), Day (1929), and Codignola (1936).