"I have heard the angels sing" proclaimed Franz Schubert upon hearing music from Niccolo Paganini, composer of 24 violin caprices, Witch's Dance, Perpetual Motion, the orchestral Concerto in D Major, Carnival of Venice, and La Capanella.
             . Niccolo Paganini has been called the greatest violin player of all time. He
             was not only the toast of all Europe, he was a legend in his own time. His fab-
             ulous command of his instrument was no legend, nor was it legend that no au-
             dience failed to succumb to a kind of spell in the presence of his musical genius.
             Not only his playing but his cadaverous appearance on the stage aroused awe
             and terror. His pale , long face with its hollow cheeks and lips curled into a
             sardonic smile, the piercing expression of his eyes, fed the rumor that he was
             the son of the devil. The word spread that the G string of his violin was made
             from the intestines of a murdered mistress. Despite all of this he was worship-
             ed wherever he went. Women pursued him, musicians followed him from
             Paganini's father raised his son with cruelty and relentless practice sessions.
             Aware that he had a prodigy on his hands and eager to capitalize, he kept Niccolo
             from any schooling. His mother added to his fervour with the frequent recital
             of a dream, where an angel promised her that her son would be the greatest
             violin player ever. Niccolo quickly exhausted his teachers, and when he was
             just eight years old played a concerto in a local church with such success that
             he was forever in demand. By the age of thirteen he was known as the "won-
             derchild". Some additional study took place between the years of fourteen
             and sixteen, bu...