Chopin's Heart: The Quest to Identify the Mysterious Illness of the World's Most Beloved Composer (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781456402969)

Steven Lagerberg is a retired physician, founder of the Northwest Council of the Chopin Foundation of the United States, and an amateur musicologist. Dividing his time between Paris and Seattle, he currently assists talented young pianists as they aspire to a professional career. In the summer of 2008, while attending a convention of the International Federation of Chopin Societies in Nohant, France, Dr. Lagerberg joined the controversial debate whether to proceed with the DNA analysis of Chopin's long-preserved heart. A month earlier, a recognized expert in the field of cystic fibrosis research, Professor Wojciech Cichy, proposed to open the sealed glass container in Warsaw containing Chopin's heart. Planning to use a novel scientific approach, Cichy wished to prove that the esteemed Polish composer died from the genetic disease of cystic fibrosis, as opposed to the widely accepted belief that Chopin succumbed to the ravages of chronic tuberculosis. Being immediately interested and then later intensely involved in the international controversy following Cichy's audacious proposal, Dr. Lagerberg reserached the many medical and historical details of this subject in Poland, France, and the United States. Dr. Lagerberg is now collaborating with Professor Cichy and others of his team of investigators as they plan a second attempt in 2011 to gain access to Chopin's heart. No one other than Dr. Lagerberg has been able to gain access to all of the principals in this interesting investigation or tell the story with as much medical knowledge and familiarity with Chopin.