The Devil in the Strings: Violins, Virtuosity, and the Myth of Demonic Talent

In the early nineteenth century, the most famous musician in Europe was also the most feared. Niccolò Paganini sold out concert halls across the continent while newspapers debated whether he had purchased his talent from something that was not human. This is a story about what happens when a person's abilities exceed what their audience can rationalize, and what a man does when he realizes that fear is more powerful than admiration.