Paganini’s Caprice No.24 is a strong cultural gene

I listened to Paganini’s “24 Caprices” for a solo violin every day for four days from last Wednesday. The “11th Seoul International Music Competition with LG” is held for violin this year, and its first round of competition includes two of 24 caprices, which can be selected by each violinist.

Many violinists chose the Paganini Caprice No. 24. Nicolo Paganini put all the difficult violin techniques in the piece. The composer chose a “theme and variation” in it to show off techniques, but unlike variations that pose a wide range of technical challenges, the theme is familiar and easy to remember. Once you hear it, you’ll say, “Oh, that’s it!” Caprice is famous in itself but many other composers arranged the theme in their own way and produced new pieces later.

Those who composed variations on Paganini`s Caprice No.24 are also famous. Johannes Brahms wrote “Paganini variations,” with 28 variations for a piano. Franz Liszt, a genius pianist, left the “Grandes Etudes de Paganini.” Sergei Rachmaninoff composed “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” for strings with a piano. In the 20th century, many renowned composers, including Boris Blacher, Max Liebermann, Witold Lutoslawski and Karol Szymanowski, composed variations and concertos using the theme. Violinist Nathan Milstein and pianist Fazil Say also made the theme into variations.

Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 also had a significant impact on pop music. Benny Goodman, Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Stump, and Helloween used the theme in their music. It was used even in a popular game music. A few years ago, it was used in an ad of LG OLED television to stress the “vivid color,” like an old Italian violin. Richard Dawkins, a well-known evolutionary biologist, said, “Memes reproduce by copying from a nervous system to another one, either by communication or imitation. Imitation often involves the copying of an observed behaviour of another individual. Communication may be direct or indirect, where memes transmit from one individual to another through a copy recorded in an inanimate source, such as a book or a musical score.” A good example of a “cultural gene” would be the theme of Paganini’s Caprice No. 24.