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Jimmy & The Magic Key was generously contributed to Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay by Roger Parellada Ferre.
Jimmy & the Magic Key follows Jimmy and his niece Lola on a magical, time-travelling adventure through the world of classical music. With the help of Jimmy's piano, which also doubles as a time machine, they journey into the past to meet some of the greatest composers in history—and lend a helping hand when they need it most!
Once there was a man rumoured to have sold his soul to the devil to become the world’s greatest violinist.
Now, Jimmy and Lola find themselves stuck inside his dark, spooky mansion. With the flickering candlelight and the wolves howling outside, will they make it till sunrise?
Say it like a maestro: (Nee-ko-loh Pah-gah-nee-nee)
“I never knew that music contained such sounds! He spoke, he wept, he sang! Paganini is the incarnation of desire, scorn, madness and burning pain.”
— Heinrich Rellstab, a great German poet
In the seaside city of Genoa, Italy, a boy was born who would one day become the greatest violinist the world had ever seen. His name? Niccolò Paganini.
Paganini was a child prodigy. He learned to play the mandolin at just five years old, and by seven, he was already a pro on the violin. By the time he was 15, he was touring all across Italy, making a name for himself on the violin.
Paganini wasn’t just good, he was unbelievable. People were stunned by how fast and beautifully he played. He didn’t need sheet music, and he could play up to 12 notes every second! He was so supernaturally brilliant that the people whispered: “Paganini sold his soul to the devil to become the greatest violinist of all time!”
Some even believed… he was the devil.
Because of Paganini’s pale skin, hollow cheeks and lanky appearance, people began saying strange things. They called him the “Rubber Man”. Some claimed they had seen his doppelganger with horns and hooves. Others said souls were imprisoned inside his violin.
But one thing was clear, Paganini’s violin playing was breathtaking. When he turned 30, his fame exploded. He was the first professional violin player to tour Europe, just like a rock star! Members of the audience would faint with excitement at his playing!
Even other great composers and musicians were amazed. The great composer Franz Liszt once said about Paganini:
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Paganini was renowned for his technique and improvisation on the violin. He helped popularise many string techniques, like spiccato, where the bow bounces on the strings, and left-handed pizzicato, where you pluck the strings instead of using the bow.
He didn’t just play the violin—he composed too, writing beautiful chamber music and for the guitar and violin. His music was so good, it refused to stay hidden in the past. Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, especially its third movement, La Campanella, even snuck its way into modern hits like K-pop group BLACKPINK’s Shut Down!
And though he passed away in 1840, some say... when the wind is just right, and the strings of a violin hum in the night...
You can still hear Paganini playing.
