Piece no. 6 · Beethoven

Für Elise

Nine notes and everyone knows it. Yet Beethoven never published it, the original is lost, and nobody knows who Elise really was.

At a glance

• Real title: Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59. WoO means "work without opus number": Beethoven never listed it among his works.
• Composed: in 1810; on 27 April, according to Ludwig Nohl's copy.
• Published: in 1867, forty years after Beethoven's death (1827).
• Time: 3/8, Poco moto (with a little motion).
• Form: a five-part rondo, A–B–A–C–A: the famous theme comes back three times, with two different episodes in between.

The story

In 1810 Beethoven is almost forty, lives in Vienna and is already a famous composer. That year he writes the incidental music for Goethe's Egmont and, between major works, a short piano piece: a bagatelle, a small light composition. He doesn't publish it.

Half a century later, the musicologist Ludwig Nohl says he has seen the manuscript, inscribed "Für Elise am 27 April zur Erinnerung von L. v. Bthvn": "For Elise, on 27 April, as a remembrance, from L. v. Beethoven". In 1867 he publishes it in his book Neue Briefe Beethovens (New Letters of Beethoven). That is the version still played today.

Then the manuscript disappears. All that survives is a sketch leaf at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, where the sketches for Für Elise sit next to ones for Egmont. Around 1822 Beethoven returned to the piece with a revised accompaniment, reconstructed by the musicologist Barry Cooper; but the version everyone knows is Nohl's.

Who was Elise?

Nobody knows for sure. The main theories:

• Therese Malfatti. In 1810 Beethoven was in love with her and hoped to marry her (she said no); the manuscript belonged to her. In the most famous theory, Nohl misread Beethoven's messy handwriting and "Therese" became "Elise".
• Elisabeth Röckel. A young soprano and friend of Beethoven, sometimes called "Elise": proposed by the scholar Klaus Martin Kopitz in 2010, but disputed.
• Elise Barensfeld. A 13-year-old former child prodigy, suggested by the musicologist Rita Steblin in 2014, who calls her own idea uncertain.
• No Elise at all. According to Jürgen May, the dedication and date may not be Beethoven's, but added by a later owner of the manuscript.

True or false?

Read the story? Test yourself: pick an answer for each statement.

How to play it in PlayByPaw

In the game the five columns are five neighbouring piano keys: a hand position. When the melody moves, the position changes and the key labels update. The famous opening rocks between two adjacent keys, E and D♯: the first challenge is keeping the rhythm without rushing.

Play it now with Purrthoven ▶

Sources