PAGANINI, NICCOLO. (1782-1840). Italian musician and composer regarded as the violin’s greatest virtuoso. ANS. (“Nicolo Paganini”). 1p. Oblong 12mo. London, August 13, 1831. A brief greeting in Italian, beneath which Luigi Lablache (1794-1858), the greatest Italian bass of his time, has added a message sending the Paganini note to Mrs. Watts (possibly the wife of London violinist and arranger WILLIAM WATTS). Paganini writes:
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“I have the pleasure of considering myself your admirer and friend…”
Underneath Paganini’s inscription, Lablache adds in Italian:
“Dear Mr. Watts. Here is the signature that you wanted. At your service. L Lablanche”
Niccolo Paganini
A child prodigy, Paganini began his career playing throughout the surroundings of his native Genoa, followed by a successful premiere in Milan in 1813, after which his name became synonymous with virtuoso. Many of Paganini’s compositions were deemed unplayable, prompting some to claim that his talent was the result of supernatural, if not diabolical, influences. On May 14, 1831, Paganini arrived in London where he gave the first of 18 concerts. So well received was his debut, that even The Times, which had protested the high ticket prices, admitted, “‘He is not only the finest player that has ever existed on that instrument, but he forms a class by himself,’” (The New Grove Dictionary).
In 1826, Paganini composed his Violin Concerto No. 2, best remembered for the third movement, “La Campanella,” marked by its use of a tiny bell. This same concerto had its London premiere on June 30, 1831, and in a subsequent performance it featured Lablache playing the bell. “Paganini was very amused at the sight of this great bear of a man, the greatest singer of his day, busy with so humble a task, especially when an engraving of the event appeared in a popular transcription of the work published while he was in England,” (“Paganini in Leeds, Paganini with Lablache, Calumnies, Mary Shelley,” Peter Sheppard Skaerved, https://www.peter-sheppard-skaerved.com/2016/01/1-58/).
Lablache, a Neapolitan by birth, began his opera career as a child contralto and later made a name for himself as a powerful bass with an extraordinarily wide range and considerable acting ability. His reputation was known throughout Europe and in addition to singing at the funerals of Haydn, Beethoven and Chopin; he was also Queen Victoria’s singing teacher. His notable roles included Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Geronimo in Rossini’s La gazza ladra and Henry VIII in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena.
London violinist William Watts played with the London Philharmonic Society, serving as its secretary from its founding in 1813 until 1847, and with smaller ensembles for whom he made notable chamber arrangements of Beethoven’s fourth, fifth and sixth symphonies. Likely trimmed and folded with slight creasing; in fine condition and an excellent association.
