Bismarck Daily Tribune

Chopin Superstition

Chopin, unlike most musical geniuses, was a late riser. He practiced so long at the piano, with his back unsupported, that his spine was permanently injured. He never composed except when seated at the piano, and he always had the lights turned out when he was improvising. A public audience unnerved him to such an extent that he could not properly interpret the music before him. Seated in the midst of a small select circle, he easily extemporized and improvised. He talked to his piano whenever he was melancholy. He thought more of his manservant and his cat than he did of his intimate friends. Chopin had a superstitious dread of the figure seven and would not live in a house bearing that number or start upon a journey on that date.