The thesis is advanced that Nicolo Paganini of Genoa (1782 to 1840), the greatest violin virtuoso of all time, owed his incomparable violin virtuosity to a fortuitous and fortunate coincidence of three factors: a soaring musical genius, a flair for the dramatic and ostentatious, and manual dexterity conferred by being born with the long fingers and hyperextensible joints of Marfan's syndrome. Ordinarily, an inborn connective tissue disorder is a calamity for the patient and a burden for society. In this particular instance, however, Marfan's syndrome bequeathed to posterity a legacy that will ennoble the human spirit for innumerable generations yet to come.

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