Für Elise

"Für Elise", opening

"Für Elise" (English: "For Elise") is the popular name of one of Ludwig van Beethoven's (1770–1827) most popular compositions,^[1][2][3] the Bagatelle in A minor (WoO 59 and Bia 515) for solo piano, marked poco moto, dated 27 April 1810. The original autographed manuscript has been lost and the piece itself was not published until 1865.

History

It is not certain who "Elise" was. Some scholars have suggested she was Beethoven's fifth mistress^{[by whom?]}, while others have suggested that the discoverer of the piece, Ludwig Nohl, may have transcribed the title incorrectly and the original work may have been named "Für Therese"^[4] (Therese being Therese Malfatti von Rohrenbach zu Dezza (1792–1851), a friend and student of Beethoven's to whom he proposed in 1810 but she turned down to marry the Austrian nobleman and state official Wilhelm von Droßdik in 1816.)^[5] Another—somewhat dubious—theory is that Elise was Elisabeth Röckel (1793–1883), a German soprano and sister of Joseph August Röckel.^[6] How the autograph of the Albumblatt WoO 59 ended up in the possession of a certain Babette Bredl (who also owned other copies of Beethoven's works in Therese Malfatti's hand) in Munich, during Röckel's lifetime, is still to be explained.

On 13 October 2009 the pianist and musicologist Luca Chiantore presented his doctoral thesis^{[N 1]} at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and asserted that the piece, while an original work of Beethoven as is proved by the drafts of manuscript BH 116, was influenced in the transcription by Ludwig Nohl to the form we know today. Chiantore stated his beliefs that the original signed manuscript upon which Ludwig Nohl claimed to base his transcription, may never have existed.^[7][8] Following widely spread sensationalistic reporting, Chiantore clarified his position.^[9]

1. ^ Title: Beethoven y sus ejercicios técnicos, entre composición, improvisación e investigación sonora

Music

Bagatelle in A minor ("Für Elise") Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Piano performance (MIDI rendition)

The piece begins in 3/8 with a right-hand theme accompanied by arpeggios in the left hand; the harmonies used are A minor and E major. The next section moves to the relative major, using the chords C major and G major. A lighter section follows, written in the key of F major, then a few bars in C major before the first section returns without alteration. Next the piece moves into an agitated theme set over a pedal point on A. After a gauntlet of arpeggios and a chromatic descend over an octave and a half, the main theme returns, and the piece ends in its starting key of A minor with an authentic cadence. The piece, though called a bagatelle, is in rondo form. It provides a good basic exercise on piano pedaling technique.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Für Elise

• Für Elise sheet music and recording
• Typeset sheet music from Cantorion.org
• Für Elise WoO 59 in A minor for piano solo.
• Für Elise: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
• "Für Elise" at the Mutopia Project
• Für Elise For Guitar – arrangement of the opening part with guitar tabs
• List of Beethoven's works WoO 51–100
• Link to a midi of the revised version Beethoven was working on in 1822
• Link to an orchestral version created by Jari Eskola