The Story Behind Für Elise: Who Was Elise?

Für Elise may be the most famous piano piece in the world, yet Beethoven never published it. It was found after his death, its manuscript is lost, and nobody knows for sure who Elise was.

A small piece, not meant for fame

Beethoven wrote the Bagatelle in A minor, catalogued as WoO 59, around 1810. A bagatelle is a little trifle, a short, light piece. Beethoven wrote many of them, and he seems to have thought of this one as a personal gift rather than a work for the public.

Found forty years after his death

The piece was published only in 1867, forty years after Beethoven died, by the scholar Ludwig Nohl. He said he had copied it from an autograph manuscript with the dedication: For Elise on 27 April, in memory of Beethoven. That manuscript has since disappeared.

So who was Elise?

• Therese Malfatti, a young pianist Beethoven hoped to marry around 1810. Some scholars think Nohl misread Therese as Elise in Beethoven's difficult handwriting.
• Elisabeth Röckel, a singer and friend of Beethoven, who was sometimes called Elise.
• Other candidates have been proposed, and the question is still open.

Why everyone plays it

The opening is easy enough for a beginner, the melody is unforgettable, and the middle sections give a sense of drama. It is also a reading lesson in disguise: the famous opening swings between E and D sharp, a black key that standard notation hides behind a sharp sign. In iCanPiano Style the D sharp shows itself.

• F sharp: right half black. Play the black key to the right of F.
• B flat: left half black. Play the black key to the left of B.
• B natural: no natural sign. A note that is all black or all white is played on a white key.

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