24 Caprices for Solo Violin (Paganini)

The 24 Caprices for Solo Violin were written in groups (six, six and twelve) by Niccolò Paganini between 1802 and 1817. They are also designated as M.S. 25 in Maria Rosa Moretti's and Anna Sorrento's "Catalogo tematico delle musiche di Niccolò Paganini" which was published in 1982. The "Caprices" are in the form of études, with each number exploring different skills (double stopped trills, extremely fast switching of positions and strings, etc.)
Ricordi first published them in 1820, where they were grouped and numbered from 1 to 24 as Op. 1, together with 12 Sonatas for Violin and Guitar (Op. 2 and 3) and 6 Guitar Quartets (Op. 4 and 5). When Paganini released his "Caprices", he dedicated them "alli artisti" (to the artists) rather than to a specific person. A sort of dedication can be recognized in Paganini's own score, where he annotated between 1832 and 1840 the following 'dedicatee' for each "Caprice" (possibly ready for a new printed edition): 1: Henri Vieuxtemps; 2: Giuseppe Austri; 3: Ernesto Camillo Sivori; 4: Ole Bornemann Bull; 5: Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst; 6: Karol Józef Lipiński; 7: Franz Liszt; 8: Delphin Alard; 9: Herrmann; 10: ; 11: Sigismond Thalberg; 12: Dhuler; 13: Charles Philippe Lafont; 14: Jacques Pierre Rode; 15: Louis Spohr; 16: Rodolphe Kreutzer; 17: Alexandre Artôt; 18: Antoine Bohrer; 19: Andreas Jakob Romberg; 20: Carlo Gignami; 21: Antonio Bazzini; 22: Luigi Alliani; 23: [no name]; 24: "Nicolò Paganini, " (to my self, regrettably buried).
Ferdinand David's first edition was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1854. David, as editor, also issued an edition of "Caprices" with piano accompaniments by Robert Schumann. Another edition by David was issued in two books of 12 caprices each "" (with additional piano accompaniment by Ferdinand David) and published by Breitkopf & Härtel (c. 1860).
Unlike many earlier and later sets of 24 pieces, there was no intention to write these caprices in 24 different keys.
Complete set / commercial recordings.
In 1940, to celebrate the centenary of Paganini's death, the complete set in the arrangement for violin and piano by Ferdinand David was recorded by the 20-year-old Austrian violinist Ossy Renardy (pseudonym of Oskar Reiss), with Walter Robert on piano (78 rpm's, RCA Victor; CD reprint by Biddulph). This was the world premiere recording of any version of the 24 Caprices. Renardy had played the solo violin version of the 24 in his Carnegie Hall debut the previous October. In 1953, shortly before his untimely death, Renardy recorded the 24 again (on Paganini's Guarnieri del Gesù violin, 'Il Cannone'), in the same arrangement by David, with Eugene Helmer accompanying (2LPs, Remington R-99-146 & R-99-152).
In 1947, Ruggiero Ricci made the first complete recording of the 24 Caprices in their original version (Decca). Ricci later made further recordings, as stated below:
Other violinists have since recorded the complete set, including:
Original works, based on Paganini's Caprices.
Especially for compositions in the form of "Variations" see the related article: Caprice No. 24 (Paganini)#Variations on the theme.