One String

Niccolo Paganini, a colourful and gifted Violinist of the nineteenth century was standing before a packed house, playing through a difficult piece of music. A full orchestra surrounded him with full support. Suddenly, one string on his violin snapped and hung gloriously down from his instrument.

Beads of perspiration popped out of his forehead. He frowned but continued to play, improvising beautifully. To the conductor’s surprise, a second string broke and shortly after, a third. Now there were three limp strings dangling from Paganini’s violin as the master performer completed the difficult composition on the remaining one string. The audience jumped to its feet and in good Italian fashion filled the Hall with shouts of “Bravo! Bravo!”

As the applause died down, the violinist asked the people to sit down. Even though they knew there was no way they could expect an encore, they quietly sank back to their seats. He held the Violin up high for everyone to see. He nodded at the conductor to begin the encore and then turned back to the crowd.

With a twinkle in his eye, he smiled and shouted, “Paganini and one string!”

After that he placed the single string Stradivarius (violins manufactured by Antonio Stradivari) beneath his chin and played the final piece on one string as the audience shook their heads in silent amazement.

Our life may very well be filled with troubles, worries and disappointments. We spend most of the time concentrating and fretting over the strings that snap or at things that can’t be changed. If you are one of them who is still grieving over the snapped strings in life, then lookout for that “one string” that is still intact and start playing the single string with conviction. Let it yield a sweet, winsome melody that the world needs so desperately. 

You can if you will…