Nicolò Paganini (placeholder)

Nicolo Paganini (1782-1840) was an Italian violinist virtuoso and a composer, considered by many as the greatest of all time. He was known for his virtuosity and emotion while playing; some audience members claimed they saw the devil helping him while he played and his mother was even forced to acknowledge the normalcy of his birth. In performance Paganini enjoyed playing tricks, like tuning one of his strings a semitone high, or playing the majority of a piece on one string after breaking the other three. He astounded audiences with techniques that included harmonics, double stops, pizzicato with the left as well as the right hand, and near impossible fingerings and bowings.