Composers Datebook

If "Entertainment Tonight!" were around in Paris in 1831, they would probably have offered a breathless special edition report on a concert that occurred on today's date that year. EVERYBODY who was ANYBODY was there: from the literary world, the French novelist Victor Hugo, author of "Les Miz," don't you know, and the writer Alfred de Mussett, who they SAY was living in sin with that cross-dressing Baroness, who, despite her sex, went by the name of George Sand. Oh, and the German poet Heinrich Heine was there, and from the music world, three of the leading opera composers of the day: the foreign born Giacomo Meyerbeer and Luigi Cherubini, and popular native son, Jacques Halevy. And who could miss the dashing, lion-maned Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt also seated in the theater? They were all there to witness the Parisian debut of the most charismatic performer of his time, the Italian violinist Nicolo Paganini. It was whispered that the fourth string on his violin was made from the intestine of his mistress, murdered at his own hand, and that he had spent 20 years in prison for the crime, with his violin his sole companion. Others hinted he had actually made a pact with Satan, trading his immortal soul for superhuman virtuosity! He looked like death warmed over, thin and gaunt, but played like a man possessed. Beat THAT, Ozzy Osbourne!