When I attained my seventh year, my father, whose ear was unmusical but who was nevertheless passionately fond of music, gave me my elementary lessons on the violin; in a very few months, I was able to play all manner of compositions at sight.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the early musical training a young Paganini received from his father, highlighting the passion for music despite a lack of musical talent.
In this quote, Niccolo Paganini recounts the significant influence his father had on his musical development during his childhood. The father's deep love for music, despite his inability to perceive it, led him to impart his knowledge to Paganini, who quickly excelled in playing the violin. This illustrates the power of passion and encouragement in fostering talent, suggesting that dedication and support can lead to remarkable achievements, even in the face of limitations.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of arts in education, one might say: 'As Niccolo Paganini's father believed in him despite his own limitations, we too should foster our children's creative passions.'
At Vienna, one of the audience affirmed publicly that my performance was not surprising, for he had distinctly seen, while I was playing my variations, the devil at my elbow, directing my arm and guiding my bow. My resemblance to the devil was a proof of my origin.
The trouble with writing fiction is that it has to make sense, whereas real life doesn't.
I don't like to read contemporary fiction while writing - I need a sense of isolation, a kind of silence, and I don't want a jumble of other people's voices or visions getting in my way. Nineteenth-century voices don't create static in that silence.
Genres aren't closed boxes. Stuff flows back and forth across the borders all the time.
I want to write poems that are natural, luminous, deep, spare. I dream of an art so transparent that you can look through and see the world.
Just as there is no substitute for original works of art, there is no substitute for the world of direct sensual experience.
Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.
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