CSO Conductor Riccardo Muti's Fainting Fall Providentially Leads to Pacemaker

Does everything happen for a purpose? Plenty of seasoned sages and popular speakers have said so. From biblical King Solomon to blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe, and from the Apostle Paul to R&B singer Nelly, folks have often pointed to a providential plan that somehow uses miseries to make mercies.

Ask Riccardo Muti, music director for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The 69-year-old Italian maestro fainted and fell during a February 3 rehearsal, suffering a broken jaw and other facial injuries. Now the famous conductor is recovering at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital, implanted with a silver-dollar-sized pacemaker.

Obviously, no one would want to experience an injurious fall. And who would sign up voluntarily for a pacemaker? Still, the unfortunate incident may have saved this popular patient's life, at least in time.

Perhaps all of us could point out others, besides Maestro Muti, who have survived serendipitous accidents that led to greater good. Perhaps these are not accidents at all.

How did serendipity serve the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Riccardo Muti?

Physicians diagnosed an irregular heart rhythm, while examining Riccardo Muti and performing surgery to repair the injuries he suffered in his sudden tumble. Might modern medicine have missed this, if the Maestro had not fallen during rehearsal?

"The fainting spell was caused by a common heart rhythm disturbance," explained Northwestern Memorial Hospital cardiologists Donald Lloyd-Jones, M.D., and Bradley P. Knight, M.D., in a February 11 statement. "In order to prevent possible future episodes of slow heart rate, we have implanted a standard pacemaker."

Heart patients with pacemakers generally enjoy positive prognoses for lengthy and healthy lives, the Northwestern Memorial Hospital doctors added.

The popular conductor is expected to miss several upcoming Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances. In Riccardo Muti's absence, Milanese musician Gianandrea Noseda is conducting and reaping positive reviews.

In the meantime, Riccardo Muti has voiced his eagerness to return to conducting the famous Midwestern musicians. Muti's current tenure with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been considerably interrupted, as he took a lengthy leave of absence earlier, returning to his native Italy for unspecified medical reasons.

"I am so disappointed that I was not able to share in the music making by our great Orchestra these past weeks," Maestro Muti commented. "In my rehearsals, the Orchestra sounded like angels, and I wanted so much to make music together with them.

"A music director's relationship with his orchestra is like a marriage. Together, we are a family and we bond in times of joy and in times of challenge. I think it was destiny that I came to Chicago and I think what has happened is also destiny, because now I understand and feel more comfortable than ever about returning to my work," Riccardo Muti concluded.

Perhaps the destiny to which Maestro Muti referred was not so much musical as medical, as is often the case.

Certainly, many who have been blessed with longevity of life can likely share similar reflections of serendipitous situations to those experienced by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Riccardo Muti. How often does an accident reveal a more serious, but yet unidentified, disease or medical disturbance?

In my own extended family circle, for example, at least three individuals sought medical attention after personal accidents or illnesses. Although the initial complaints were not life-threatening, in each of these recent cases, physicians discovered more serious concerns. Two relatives were treated successfully for pre-cancerous conditions, and a third began therapies for a potentially dangerous respiratory condition.

All three threats were treated in time.

Perhaps perspective really does count for a full measure of better health. Maybe a sudden scare can tune us in and help us to step in rhythm with our own wellness.

Could it be that the Chicago conductor's steps are directed by an even more masterful Maestro?