The Disease of Chopin. A comprehensive study of a lifelong suffering

Victoria Wapf

The life of the Polish-French pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin (1810—1849) was, to a great extent, influenced by his disease. Nevertheless, the diagnosis and differential diagnoses of his suffering remain a matter of debates in numerous biographical studies on the composer’s life. This study shall conduct a systematization and overview of Chopin’s medical history, in an effort to outline pathways to his most probable diagnosis.

The Disease of Chopin

A comprehensive study of a lifelong suffering

Victoria Wapf

Cover designer Julia Kravchenko

© Victoria Wapf, 2017

© Julia Kravchenko, cover design, 2017

ISBNВ 978-5-4483-1531-2

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Acknowledgement

This book wouldhave been impossible toВ complete without aВ great deal ofВ help and support ofmany people from around the world. That is why IВ am glad toВ seize thisopportunity and express my gratitude toВ those who, inВ one way or another, helped me toВ reach the goal.

First of all I want to thank my family. They have not only granted me spare time to work on the manuscript, but also kept encouraging me along the way, nurturing my confidence and scientific curiosity.

Many thanks to Professor Tadeusz Dobosz, Head of the Molecular Techniques Unit of the Forensic Medicine Department at the Medical University of Wroclaw (Poland) – for his precious comments and deep appreciation of my work.

Sincere gratitude  to Mr. Piotr Mysłakowski, publisher and researcher in the field of genealogy and biographical sciences, a renowned architect and designer – for his valuable notes and corrections in regard of Chopin’s genealogy.

I am thankful to Dr. Lorenzo Käser from the Department of Graduate Education in Human Medicine, Zurich University – for providing an excellent learning and teaching environment and serving as a brilliant example of a physician, mentor and educator I always wanted to be.

AВ special thanks go toВ Prof. Wolfgang Jungraithmayr ofВ the University Clinic of Thoracic Surgery inВ Zurich. AВ talented pianist and violinist, he infected mewith the idea toВ research the medical history ofВ Frederic Chopin.

And, of course, I can not thankВ enough Julia and Maria, who assisted me with proofreading and graphicdesign, because without them all my efforts would be worthless. Both of themput every effort to create a book of a truly good quality.

I also thank my dear friends and colleagues Dr. Maria Bär, Dr. Iryna Cranny, Dr. Alexander Garmaev, Dr. Heiko Frühauf, Dr. Ursina Jansen, Dr. Yves Jaccard, Prof. Dmitry Kazakov, Ina Ladnar, Dr. Barbara Lütolf, Fahim Mozaffari, Nora H. Gräni, Dr. Elisabeth Hohenstein, Prof. S. Vavricka, Dr. Elisabeth Rushing, Bota Tynybekova, Philip Twaites, Dr. Matthias C. Walter, Cyril Wechsler, Pamela Wible, Priyatharsan Yoganathan und Nishanththan Yogarajan – who appreciate and support my eagerness to learn new things every day.

Abstract

Introduction

The life of the Polish-French pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin (1810—1849) was, to a great extent, influenced by his disease. Nevertheless, the diagnosis and differential diagnoses of his suffering remain a matter of debates in numerous biographical studies on the composer’s life. This study shall conduct a systematization and overview of Chopin’s medical history, in an effort to outline pathways to his most probable diagnosis.

Overview ofВ methods

In this paper, the medical literature on Chopin’s disease was examined to weigh up the existing evidence in the light of today’s medical knowledge and to define possible ways to extend such evidence with modern diagnostic methods. The literature search included three steps. First, a thorough search for available publications was conducted to identify and acquire all medical documents describing F. Chopin’s status and