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The pieces

Ten Beethoven pieces, from the most famous to the most demanding: from the four notes of the Fifth to the waves of the Moonlight Sonata. For each one, a few lines of history, its difficulty from one to five dots and a button to play it.

1. Symphony No. 5 · opening

Three short notes and a long one: perhaps the most famous opening in classical music. The Fifth Symphony, in C minor, was first performed in Vienna on 22 December 1808, in the same very long concert as the Sixth. In the game you play the beginning of the first movement up to the close of the exposition, where the motif passes between strings and winds and ends in E flat major.

2. Ode to Joy

It's the melody of the finale of the Ninth Symphony (1824), set to an ode by Friedrich Schiller. Since 1972 it has been the anthem of the Council of Europe and since 1985 that of the European Union: just Beethoven's music, without words. It's the ideal piece to start with: almost always the same five keys.

3. Symphony No. 7 · Allegretto

The second movement of the Seventh Symphony, in A minor, built on a slow, solemn rhythm that keeps coming back. At the premiere, in Vienna on 8 December 1813, the audience demanded to hear it again straight away. In the game you start with the wind chord that opens the movement, then the complete theme, twice, with the strings' countermelody in the accompaniment.

4. Minuet in G

The second of the Six Minuets WoO 10, published in Vienna in 1796. It's one of the first pieces beginner pianists learn, and it even plays a part in the musical The Music Man. In the game you play the minuet itself, from the start to the Fine, without the repeats or the central Trio.

5. Ecossaise in G

The écossaise, French for "Scottish", was a lively dance in fashion in the early 1800s. This one in G major (WoO 23) dates from around 1810; according to the sources it was written for wind band, but it has come down to us as a piano piece. In the game you play the whole piece, with both repeats.

6. Für Elise

The Bagatelle in A minor WoO 59, written in 1810 and only published in 1867, forty years after Beethoven's death. Who Elise was is still a mystery, and the original manuscript is lost: we tell the whole story on its page, with a quiz.

7. Pathétique Sonata · 2nd movement

The Sonata Op. 13 in C minor, published in 1799 and dedicated to Prince Karl Lichnowsky. The title Grande sonate pathétique was given by the publisher, with Beethoven's approval. The second movement, Adagio cantabile, is a slow, calm melody in A flat major. In the game you play the theme, the F minor episode, the return of the theme and the coda, with the piano's sustain pedal.

8. Turkish March

It comes from the incidental music for The Ruins of Athens (Op. 113), a play by August von Kotzebue staged in Pest, today Budapest, in 1812. The theme had already appeared in the Six Variations for piano Op. 76, from 1809. In the game you play the theme everybody knows, the more energetic middle section in the minor, and the coda that fades away to pianissimo. The grace notes, the quick little notes that give it its "Turkish" flavour, can be heard but aren't played.

9. Rage Over a Lost Penny

Its real title is Rondo alla ingharese quasi un capriccio, Op. 129. Beethoven left it unfinished and it was published in 1828, after his death. The playful title is written on the manuscript, but not in his hand: it is attributed to his friend Anton Schindler. In the game you play the rondo theme, with the second phrase in E minor and the return in forte.

10. Moonlight Sonata · 1st movement

The Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 in C sharp minor, "quasi una fantasia", completed in 1801 and dedicated to his pupil Giulietta Guicciardi. The nickname isn't Beethoven's: it comes from the critic Ludwig Rellstab, who in 1824 compared the first movement to a moonlit landscape. In the game you play the first part of the movement and then the ending, with the arpeggios sinking into the bass and the last chords pianissimo.

Bonus: Für Elise, complete version

The whole bagatelle, from beginning to end: the theme, the F major passage with its lightning-fast scales, the dramatic A minor section with arpeggios climbing to the top of the keyboard, and the return of the theme. Almost 550 notes in about three minutes: the hardest piece in the game. To play it you first need three stars on Für Elise.

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