“Pact With the Devil” – 3 Musicians who sold their soul to the devil.

The frequentation between demons and artists does not necessarily include the possibility of a satanic pact. In fact, true friendships have been forged between art and hell over the years; for example, between the demon Zorneo and his two great disciples: the Marquis de Sade and Casanova, or Asmodeus, who manifested a peculiar predilection for Oscar Wilde.

Now, the folk motif of the pact with the devil proper reached excellence with the story of Faust and the demon Mephistopheles. However, not all men who sold their souls to the devil did so to get a woman’s love. Some, in fact, embarked on this risky contractual arrangement in exchange for superhuman talent.

The idea of ​​the satanic pact is based on the notion that the end justifies the means, that is, that personal success is above all else. Throughout history there are many cases of alleged people who sold their souls to the devil in exchange for certain skills, and musicians are probably the interpreters of the trade most associated with this legend.

As a general rule, musicians accused of selling their souls to the devil agree on three characteristics: unusual talent, enormous success over a short period of time, and premature death.

Below we will very briefly review three stories of musicians accused of having sold their souls to Lucifer.

Robert Johnson (1911-1938)

Robert Johnson is said to have grown up working on a Clarksville, Mississippi plantation, obsessively dreaming of becoming a great blues musician. One night a stranger passing through offered to tune his guitar, and then he played a tune or two that shook young Johnson.

The boy begged him to teach him to play that way. The mysterious man accepted, in exchange for giving him his soul. This is the reason that many chroniclers found for the enormous talent of Robert Johnson and his limited musical training.

Before dying at the age of 27, Robert Johnson composed one of his best songs, and the one that probably reaffirmed that dark legend of satanic pacts: Me and the Devil Blues.

For many, the legend of Robert Johnson would actually be an exact copy of another myth about satanic pacts related to the blues; in this case, with Tommy Johnson, who incidentally appears in the movie Oh brother, where art thou?

Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770)

Before Giuseppe Tartini rose to fame due to his incredible skill on the violin, he was often portrayed as a poor and mediocre violinist disappointed in life and music.

One night, legend has it, the devil appeared to him in his dreams. The prince of darkness played for him a melody so complex and elegant that Tartini awoke, startled; and immediately afterwards he tried to write down the notes he had heard in his dreams.

Over time, that sonata came to be known as “Il trillo del Diavolo”; perhaps the most difficult piece of music for violin to interpret; to such an extent that it was said that it seems composed for someone with six fingers.

By the way, that sixth finger is still known today as the devil’s finger.

Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840)

Probably one of the most virtuous musicians of his time, and undoubtedly one of the best violinists in history, Niccolò Paganini wrote pieces for violin from the earliest childhood.

His father quickly recognized his son’s talent and encouraged him to take his creations to churches, where he served spiritually and musically. However, his rivals did not believe that any of his works were really his, but rather the fruit of some kind of satanic pact.

The rumour quickly spread that Niccolò Paganini had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for becoming a great violinist. This legend, however, did not disturb him too much, and even did much to stimulate it.

According to the poet Heinrich Heine, every time Niccolò Paganini played his violin there was always a dark figure behind him.

Beyond the fact that this could have been a staging, of course, sponsored by Paganini himself, the truth is that, after his death, the church denied him burial according to the Catholic rite.

Four years would pass after his death for the pope to issue an order whereby his body could be buried in holy ground. Since then, in 1876, the body of Niccolò Paganini rests in the Parma cemetery.