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Ernst Jokl, MD
Lexington, Ky

JAMA. 1978;239(18):1845.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The article by Dr Schoenfeld on Nicolo Paganini contains no evidence supporting the assumption that the violinist owed his incomparable virtuosity to a coincidence of factors of which "being born with the long fingers and hyperextensible joints of Marfan's syndrome" was one. The fact that he was tall and thin certainly is of no help in the diagnosis. Nowhere in the extensive biographical literature on Paganini is there mention of disabilities that could be interpreted as having been from "muscular underdevelopment," "redundancy and fragmentation of the suspensory ligament of the eye," or "diffuse aneurysms... of the aortic arch... with resultant insufficiency of the aortic (and pulmonic) valve." Nor am I aware of any justification of the hypothesis that Paganini's hoarseness was from "recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis brought about by an expanding aneurysm of the aortic arch." According to Grove's¹Dictionary of Music and Musicians, . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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