You don't need me to tell you it's raining – and being from Seattle, I don't feel rain the same as normal humans – but rain always makes me think of Chopin, especially his "Raindrop" Prelude.''

Frédéric Chopin, seen above opposite lover George Sand in an unfinished portrait by Delacroix that was later cut in two and sold separately... that's a story for another time. Anyway, suffice it to say that Fred and George's relationship was passionate and turbulent.

The Preludes, Opus 28, were composed at a monastery in the island of Majorca, Spain, on an out-of-tune upright with missing keys and broken strings. Chopin was broken himself, and near death, but his spirit soared above his state, propped up by a secret poésie.