Dita Hradecká představuje finalisty soutěže a prozrazuje tajemství posledního odpočinku srdce slavného skladatele

·12 min·1 clip

Chopin's heart was smuggled in cognac to Warsaw, where it remains hidden in a church pillar, examined for causes of death.

The episode is a telephone interview with music publicist Dita Hradecká, who is in Warsaw covering the 19th Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition. It opens by noting the competition coincides with the 176th anniversary of Chopin's death on October 17, 1849. Hradecká announces the 11 finalists, with China having three representatives, Japan and the United States two each, and one each from Canada, Poland, Malaysia, and Georgia. She mentions specific pianists like Tianyao Liu, Eric Lu, Piotr Aleksandr, and David Krikuli. The finals will occur from June 18-20, featuring performances of Chopin's piano concertos, streamable in HD on the competition's website. Hradecká shares her personal experience of intensive Chopin exposure, leading to earworms and a newfound appreciation for his mazurkas. The conversation shifts to the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, where Chopin's heart is stored. She explains that Chopin, fearing burial alive, requested his heart be removed and taken to Poland; it was smuggled past Russian border guards in a box with cognac and later placed in a church pillar. Scientific examinations suggest he died of pericarditis linked to tuberculosis. On his death anniversary, a concert with Mozart's Requiem is held at the church. The episode concludes with a surreal anecdote: a Polish astronaut, Slavoj Uznański-Dišnjevski, took a Chopin manuscript to the International Space Station and returned it, described as a 'heavenly' journey. The host thanks Hradecká for the updates, ending the interview.

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