Paganini's concerts at Leeds, early in 1832, were so well managed that,
out of the profits, a liberal donation was presented to the fund for the
relief of the poor. At Birmingham, in February of that year, his visit
caused such an influx of strangers to the town, that neither lodgings
nor stabling could meet the demand made upon them. A popular song was
written for the occasion, and the streets rang with it long after the
violinist had left the place. Two lines ran thus:--
"It's well worth a guinea to see Paganini,
To see how he curls his hair."
At Brighton some time earlier, the high prices were nearly causing a
riot, through the issue of an inflammatory placard against them. Mr.
William Gutteridge, a well-known musician of that place, who had
arranged for the concerts, had to ask the protection of the magistrates,
but fortunately no outbreak occurred. The squabbles about prices, the
charges of avarice brought against Paganini, and the acrimonious tone of
part of the press, afford melancholy reading. His gains were said to
reach £20,000. In March, 1832, he left London for Paris. There, he gave
a concert for the poor on March 18th. He did not stay very long in
France, and on his way again to this country, occurred the incident
referred to as one of the indignities to which he was subjected. This is
the story.
Paganini having to pass through Boulogne on his way to England, decided
to give a concert in that town, which boasted of a Philharmonic Society.
Paganini deputed a friend to arrange for that Society to assist at the
concert.
All seemed going well until Paganini arrived on the scene, when the
amateurs stipulated for a certain number of free admissions for their
friends and families, as a recognition for their assistance. Paganini
represented to them that in a small concert room so many free admissions
would leave little room for the paying public, and he could not accede
to their demand. However, they would not give way, so Paganini declared
his intention to engage a professional band. This did not suit the views
of the amateurs, and they threatened the professional players with the
loss of patronage and pupils if they dared assist Paganini; and the
unfortunate artists, dependent as they were upon that support, had to
refuse the offer made them. But Paganini was not to be baffled; he
determined to give the concert, and to perform without any accompaniment
at all. This he did; and now came the ludicrous sequel. A number of
those amateurs actually paid for admission to the concert, on purpose to
hiss the independent artist. This they did as soon as he entered the
concert-room. Despising such petty spite, Paganini entrusted his revenge
to his art, and the rapturous plaudits of the audience proper soon
reduced to a pitiable silence those who had offered so gross an insult.
As a writer said at the time: "The amateurs of Boulogne have earned for
themselves a niche in the history of the art--they have _hissed_
Paganini."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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