Frédéric Chopin's ticker holds up to historical evidence that pointed to tuberculosis as the cause of death, and while some claims had been made that it was cystic fibrosis, in the end the composer simply just had too big a heart to live.
On this past Feb. 5, New Yorker contributor Alex Ross filed a story on the history of Chopin's heart and the serious luck that led it to remain in Poland. Hopping from various hands of the SS guard, it was one of the few relics that did not perish in World War II.
Regardless, Polish medical experts have said that the 19th-century heart exhibits signs of tuberculosis and, possibly, according to The Guardian, another lung disease.
The findings corroborate Chopin's 1849 death certificate, which states that the Polish-born musician died at 39 in Paris from TB.
Many speculated that since the heart was enlarged, it could potentially have been cystic fibrosis rather than TB, but the debate can finally be put to bed.
The composer is buried at Paris's famous Père Lachaise Cemetery. In line with many of its other deceased celebrity elite, his grave sits among other giants.
Let us pay tribute with his Revolutionary Etude:
Read more: A Valentine for the Heart of Frédéric Chopin
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