Niccolò Paganini

In 1813, he played a concert at La Scala and gained the attention of other musicians across Europe; however, he remained in Italy for the remainder of the decade. In 1821, he began work on four-movement pieces for orchestra and viola obbligato, although he never performed the music himself as Paganini disliked most versions that he composed; despite this, the piece premiered in 1822 by violinist Christian Urhan.

 In 1827, Pope Leo XII honoured Paganini with the Order of the Golden Spur and his fame spread across Europe. Due to his growing popularity, he started touring in 1828 and continued touring throughout Europe until 1831. Following his tours in France and Britain, Paganini began to write his own compositions whilst modifying the works of Rodolphe Kreutzer and Giovanni Battista Viotti. It was then that he developed friendships with guitarists Ferdinando Carulli and Mauro Giuliani. He would frequently play the guitar with them in private concerts.

In 1834, Paganini ended his concert career and returned to his home country. He devoted his time to the publication of his compositions and violin methods whilst teaching violinist Camillo Sivori and cellist Gaetano Cinadelli. He gave large sums to composer and friend Hector Berlioz during this time. He passed away in 1840.