Nicolo Paganini. Musical magician and Marfan mutant?

JAMA. 1978 Jan 2;239(1):40-2. doi: 10.1001/jama.239.1.40.

Abstract

The thesis is advanced that Nicolo Paganini of Genoa (1782 to 1840), the greatest violin virtuoso of all time, owed his incomparable violin virtuosity to a fortuitous and fortunate coincidence of three factors: a soaring musical genius, a flair for the dramatic and ostentatious, and manual dexterity conferred by being born with the long fingers and hyperextensible joints of Marfan's syndrome. Ordinarily, an inborn connective tissue disorder is a calamity for the patient and a burden for society. In this particular instance, however, Marfan's syndrome bequeathed to posterity a legacy that will ennoble the human spirit for innumerable generations yet to come.

Publication types

  • Biography
  • Case Reports
  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Famous Persons*
  • History, 18th Century
  • History, 19th Century
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Male
  • Marfan Syndrome / history*
  • Music / history*

Personal name as subject

  • N Paganini