Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola in Western Poland. He had no formal piano tuition and one could say that his skill as a pianist was self-taught, close to a miracle. All his compositions included the piano; this was not a restriction for him. The illnesses that plagued him and the cause of his death are the subject of articles by retrospective diagnosticians.
Keywords: Fryderyc-François Chopin; malady; music.
© The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.