title: Nicolo Paganini. Musical magician and Marfan mutant?
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.
mesh_terms: D005197:Famous Persons; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008382:Marfan Syndrome / Q000266:history*; D009146:Music / Q000266:history*