Tag: Chopin
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John Caius, the polymath who described the sweating sickness
Philip Liebson Chicago, Illinois, United States John Caius (1510-1573), Master of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. 1563. Unknown painter. Credit: Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge. Imagine being a physician in a rural community in England in the mid-sixteenth century, always concerned with the reappearance of the Black Death. Late one summer you…
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Sergei Rachmaninoff: The dichotomy of life and music
Michael Yafi Chaden Yafi Houston, Texas, United States Rachmaninoff. Photo by Bain News Service. between ca. 1915 and ca. 1920. Library of Congress Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), a Russian composer, was known for having very large hands. With a span that covered twelve white keys on the keyboard (the interval of a thirteenth), he could play…
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The two nightingales
Inga Lewenhaupt Einar Perman Stockholm, Sweden Jenny Lind standing at a keyboard. Library of Congress, Bain Collection. Accessed via Wikimedia. Source Two remarkable women were born in the same year two centuries ago: Jenny Lind (1820-1887) and Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Both became world famous, Jenny Lind for her beautiful singing voice, Florence Nightingale for…
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Chopin’s heart
Wilfred Arnold Kansas, United States Chopin at 25 by Maria Wodzińska 1835 In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birthday Frédéric Chopin was born near Warsaw, Poland in 1810. From 1831 he lived mostly in France, where he achieved international acclaim for his music despite a debilitating and life-shortening illness. He first began…