Nowadays, almost everyone knows “a deal with the devil” folk story and that’s because it’s centuries-old and has been revisited and re-told many times throughout history.

Dr. Faustus

In western folklore, deals with the devil have always had their place but in the late 1500s, those tales started becoming very popular thanks to a German alchemist named Johann Faust. He’s been alleged to have made a pact with a demon in return for his soul. The tale became famous after his life had been documented in the play “The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Dr Faustus.

Giuseppe Tartini
100 years later down in history the ‘devil pact’ found its place in music thanks to the musician Giuseppe Tartini in 1713. The story says that one day the devil appeared in Tartini’s dream and he made a pact with him in exchange for his soul. In return, Tartini gave the devil a violin and the devil composed and played the most beautiful melody he had ever heard. Immediately after waking up, Tartini tried to write down what he heard and created “Violet Sonata in G minor, more known as the “Devil's Trill Sonata”. Despite the success of the music piece, Tartini wrote that his effort when creating the piece was “…so inferior to what I had heard, that if I could have subsisted on other means, I would have broken my violin and abandoned music forever”.

Niccolo Paganini

Seemingly the interest of the devil in violins wouldn’t wear off as a century later rumours of another violinist who had an agreement with the devil came about. Niccolo Paganini is considered by some as the greatest violin virtuoso to have ever lived. He started music at the age of 5, began composing his own music when he was 7 and at 12, he was already performing live. He was so great in his music, that the public started to suspect his talents must be thanks to dark powers. Some stories say that audience would make the sign of the Christ while watching him perform, to protect themselves from evil. Other stories tell that people have seen him perform flawless notes on broken and missing violin strings. One fan even left one of Paganini’s Vienna concerts in terror as he recalled seeing the devil standing next to Paganini. At age 54 the great virtuoso died, and one of the last things he did before he died was to bring a priest to perform Last rites for him, which left people to believe in his association with the devil.

Tommy Johnson & Robert Johnson
Less than 100 years later in the 1920s and 1930s, a pair of blues musicians were alleged to have runnings with the devil. One of the - Tommy Johnson a guitar virtuoso, whose brother spread a rumour about him, was known to have allegedly went to a crossroad just before midnight one day and played his music until a big black figure came up to him and tuned his guitar. After that Tommy Johnson could play the guitar like no other man alive. On the other hand, Robert Johnson another blues musician, was one of the most impressive guitarists of his time and also one of the most important ones because of his contribution to blues music. When he started playing the guitar, he apparently had no talent for it. One day Robert left his hometown for a year and when he came back, he returned with incredible guitar skills. Rumours started going around again that Robert, the same way as Tommy, sold his soul to the devil at midnight at a crossroad. Not only that, but Robert’s lyrics have haunting desperation and stories about the devil in them. “Hell hound on my trail” is a song by Robert Johnson that tells the story of why he can’t settle down and must keep on moving because he is chased by hell hounds. Additionally, Johnson created two other songs making them a trilogy about his association with the devil – “Cross Road Blues”, “Hell hound on my trail” and “Me and the devil blues”. On August 16, 1939, the devil visited Johnson in the form of a man that poisoned and killed him at the age of only 27. Which later gave the start of ‘Club 27’ and the supposed relationship its members had with the Prince of Hell.

Many documented those stories and legends if you’re interested to hear more of them watch Netflix’s ‘Devil at the Crossroads’ and documentaries like ‘27: Gone too soon’, and BBC’s ‘The Devil’s Music’ episode series.