Victoria Wapf: The Disease of Chopin. A comprehensive study of a lifelong suffering

After this three-step search was completed, the gathered information was systematized in a form of medical history.

Frédéric François Chopin (Frydrych Franciszek Chopin, Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin) was born on the 22nd of February or [битая ссылка] 1st of March or 5 thof March 8 8 Kubba, A.,Young, M. (1998), “ The long suffering of Frederic Chopin”. Chest 113 (1) , 210—6.,9 9 Sorbie, S. (2010), “ Frédérick Francois Chopin ”. Orthopedics. Vol. 33 (3), pp. 146. to a Polish mother – Justyna Chopin and a French father, Nicolas Chopin. Multiple name versions originate in the differences of pronunciation and spelling in Polish and French languages. Most Chopin’s biographers agree upon the 1 stof March as the birth date of the composer, although his baptism certificate states 22 February as his birthday. As a regular practice at that time the baptism certificate was issued on the basis of mere recollections of his father. Justyna Chopin, on the contrary, insisted that March 1 was his birth date 10 10 Marek, G.R., Gordon-Smith, M. (1978) “ Chopin ”. New York: Harper & Row,:1 5 , . Not only there are controversies regarding Chopin’s day of birth, but even his year of birth is not entirely free of doubts: though 1810 is the birth year mentioned in most biographic studies, some scholars suggest that Chopin could possibly have been born in 1809 11 11 a). Ganche, E. (1926) “ Frédéric Chopin: Sa Vie et Oeuvres ”. Paris, as cited in Kuzemko, J. (1994), “Chopin’s illnesses” , J Roy Soc Med 87 , 769—772. b). Böhme, G. (1981), “ Medizinische Portrats berühmter Komponisten: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Carl Maria von Weber, Frederic Chopin, Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowski, Bela Bartok ”. (German Edition), G. Fischer. c) Mysakowski, P. (2010), “ Fryderyk Chopin: The Origins ”. The Chopin Institute. .

Chopin’s birthplace, a village named Żelazowa Wola, belonged to the Duchy of Warsaw, in 1810 the Duchy was a semi-independent political entity, ruled by a Prussian king, Frederick Augustus I of Saxony based on a peace treaty with Napoleon.

A reconstruction of Chopin’s medical history today is based on scarce archive documents that include personal letters and official documents, but few, if any, medical records that survived till our days.

Perinatal period

No known sources describe Justyna Chopin’s pregnancy course. Chopin was not a robust healthy newborn. Most likely he has had serious health problems that threatened his life right at its dawn. His baptismal certificate issued on 23rd of April 1810 states that an earlier christening ceremony was already held at home. Such home baptizings were performed if the baby could die shortly upon birth 12 12 Myslakowski, P. (2010), “Was Chopin born 200 years ago ?”. Magazyn Chopin. .

Chopin was born at home, in his parents’ bedroom in the presence of a midwife. This was the most common setting for a delivery at that time. The midwifery and obstetrics in early 1800s has just started to gain moment for the further development. Following the Thirty Years War (1618—1648) the Europe was faced with a threat of depopulation. A human life – and a newborn’s life in particular – gained in perceived societal value. At the same time mass prosperity grew along with increased industrial productivity. As a result many larger cities in Europe took efforts to reform midwifery provision and to improve the perinatal care. One of the midwifery textbooks of that era, the “Burn’s Principles of Midwifery: including the diseases of women and children”, published in London in 1809 and in Philadelphia in 1810 13 13 Retrieved from [битая ссылка] https://archive.org/details/2544080R.nlm.nih.gov at the 1st of February, 2014. , provides important insights into what kind of treatment Chopin and his mother might have received. Though archaic and even harmful from today’s viewpoint (for example, a bleeding is strongly recommended there for pain relief), the “Burn’s Principles of Midwifery…” is certainly an example of an effort to improve the midwifery training and to streamline the care.

A glimpse into the midwife’s records or recollections of Chopin’s family members on the circumstances of his birth would be of an enormous help. But in the absence of such documents it is not possible anymore to elucidate what exactly perinatal issues may have led the parents to believe that their newborn was at risk of dying and to perform a quick christening at home.

Childhood and adolescence

Virtually all biographers agree that Frederic was a delicate, thin, sensitive child, who tired easily and had low tolerance for strenuous physical activities – such as walk excursions in the countryside 14 14 a) Gomis, M., Sanches, B. (2000), “ Music and infectious diseases ”. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2000 Nov; 6 (11): 575—8. b) Kuzemko, J. (1994), “ Chopin’s illnesses ”. J Roy Soc Med 87 , 769—772. c) Böhme, G. (1981), “ Medizinische Portrats berühmter Komponisten: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Carl Maria von Weber, Frederic Chopin, Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowski, Bela Bartok ”. (German Edition), G. Fischer. d). Majka, L., Gozdzik, J. (2003), “ Cystic fibrosis – a probable cause of Frederic Chopin’s suffering and death ”. J Appl Genet. 2003; 44 (1) , 77—84, referring to Sieluzycki, C. (1981), “Frederick Chopin’s diseases. Their pathogenesis and treatment”. Arch Hist Med (Warsz). 1981; 44 (3—4): 237—56. . However, it is interesting that various narrators have sometimes polar views of Chopin’s health condition in his early years. The majority of Chopin’s biographs believe that he was not seriously ill, but Dr. Wilms has challenged this view in 1934 15 15 Böhme, G. (1981), “ Medizinische Portrats berühmter Komponisten: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Carl Maria von Weber, Frederic Chopin, Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowski, Bela Bartok”. (German Edition), G. Fischer. p.111. , pointing out that Chopin was such a frail child, that he wasn’t even allowed to attend a school due to the health concerns and was home-schooled till the age of 13.

Marek (1978) 16 16 Marek, G. (1979) “Chopin”. New York: Harper and Row, 1979, cited in Kuzemko, J. (1994), “ Chopin’s illnesses ”. J Roy Soc Med 87 , 769—772. stated that from his earliest years Chopin was “attended by doctors and did not enjoy good health”. Breitenfeld (2011) also mentions symptoms “associated to the lung”, such as hemoptysis, fever, headache, bronchitis, laryngitis, cough, recurrent diarrhea and body weight loss yet in childhood 17 17 Breitenfeld, D., Kust, D.,Turuk, V., Vucak, I., Buljan, D., Zupanic, M., Lucijanic, M. (2010), “Frederic Chopin and Other Composers Tuberculotics – Pathography ”. Alcoholism 46 (2) , 101—7. . Gomis (2011) adds that “from an early age [Chopin] carried out a daily bronchial toilette… and suffered from arthralgia” 18 18 Gomis, M., Sanches, B. (2000), “ Music and infectious diseases ”. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2000 Nov; 6 (11): 575—8. . Majka (2003), referring to Sieluzycki (1981), depicts Chopin’s frail health and multiorgan complaints that started early in the childhood and were accompanied by frequent respiratory tract infections 19 19 Majka, L., Gozdzik, J. (2003), “ Cystic fibrosis – a probable cause of Frederic Chopin’s suffering and death ”. J Appl Genet. 2003; 44 (1): 77—84, referring to Sieluzycki (1981). .