The Beethoven bagatelle catalogued as WoO 59 is a simple rondo of form ABACA.
However, the exceptionally beguiling A theme coupled with the evocatively romantic title “Für Elise” has made this Beethoven’s most famous piece of piano music.
#Beethoven250 Day 239
Bagatelle “Für Elise” in A Minor (WoO 59), 1810?
It’s sometimes risky for famous pianists to play iconic works, but Alice Sara Ott carries it off brilliantly. Watch her surprise at the C section.
“Für Elise” is popular with beginning pianists. Technically, the A section is easy — just alternating between the left and right hands — and the results are so recognizable and so rewarding that it provides incentive to carry on with the more difficult B and C sections.
#Beethoven250 Day 239
Bagatelle “Für Elise” in A Minor (WoO 59), 1810?
One of the many YouTube videos featuring young pianists playing this composition.
But the composition shouldn't be restricted to young pianists. In the article "Beethoven’s ‘Für Elise’ Doesn’t Deserve Your Eye Rolls", pianist Igor Levit discusses his fondness for the piece, with comments and musical examples throughout.
While some pianists profitably focus on the music of “Für Elise,” others ask the obvious question: Who is Elise?
The composition we know as “Für Elise” was discovered in 1865 among the effects from the estate of Therese Malfatti (Day 233). The inscription read “For Elise on 27 April as a memento from L. v. Beethoven.” That manuscript has since been lost.
In 1925, musicologist Max Unger argued that the inscription “Für Elise” was a mistaken reading of “Für Therese,” since it is well known that Beethoven was enamored of Therese Malfatti. However, analysis of Beethoven’s handwriting indicates that such a misreading is unlikely.
Musicologist Barry Cooper believes that “Für Elise” was intended for Therese Malfatti, but that he used a name common in German poetry for a beloved, or that Elise was his pet name for Therese Malfatti, or that he was disguising the identity of the true dedicatee from prying eyes.
#Beethoven250 Day 239
Bagatelle “Für Elise” in A Minor (WoO 59), 1810?
There are YouTube videos of this music played on guitar, harp, and using animal sounds, but I like this modern simulation of an early hammered string instrument.
In an intriguing 2014 article “Who was Beethoven’s ‘Elise’? A new solution to the mystery”, the late musicologist Rita Steblin describes the Viennese career of a young singer named Elise Barensfeld.
As a child prodigy, Elise Barensfeld was well known in Vienna and was living under the guardianship of Johann Mälzel, the inventor of musical automata and a manufacturer of a metronome that Beethoven later used. Mälzel lived across the street from the Malfattis.
Although Elise Barensfeld was only 13 years old at the time that “Für Elise” was composed, it is significant that the work was inscribed “Für [for] Elise” as if might be for her use, rather than “En [to] Elise,” which is more appropriate for a romantic dedication.
Regardless of its success in solving the mystery, the article is a fascinating glimpse into the Viennese music scene. For follow-ups on Rita Steblin’s work, see Barry Cooper’s letter and Rita Steblin’s response.
#Beethoven250 Day 239
Bagatelle “Für Elise” in A Minor (WoO 59), 1810?
The instrument known as the “glass harp” consists of water glasses rubbed along the rim with a dampened finger. The delicate tone is well suited for this composition.
Regardless whether “Für Elise” reflected Beethoven’s love for Therese Malfatti or something more innocent, in the spring of 1810 Beethoven was definitely pursuing a marriage project with a goal of marrying Therese.
As a preliminary to a possible marriage, on 2 May 1810, Beethoven wrote to his friend Franz Wegeler requesting that he track down Beethoven’s certificate of baptism to establish his date of birth (Anderson, Beethoven Letters No. 256). Beethoven was still confused how old he was.
In the spring of 1810, Beethoven wrote twice to Nikolaus Zmeskall (Letters Nos. 251 and 259) asking about obtaining a new looking-glass (mirror). Beethoven’s apparent concern about his personal appearance is another indication that he was pursuing marriage with Therese Malfatti.
Like any prospective suitor, Beethoven was happy that the Malfatti family dog seemed to enjoy his company. To his friend Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein (who was wooing the younger Malfatti daughter Anna and later married her) he wrote (Letter No. 253):
You are mistaken in thinking Gigons only watches out for you. No, I too have had the good fortune to see him refuse to leave me. In the evening he has dined beside me and has even accompanied me home — in short, he has afforded me the most excellent entertainment.
Sometime in the spring of 1810, Beethoven proposed marriage to Therese Malfatti, either directly or through a friend, and her parents apparently put an immediate end to their relationship.
Only one letter exists from Beethoven to Therese Malfatti, dated May 1810, when the Malfattis were away at their country house in Mödling. It’s not clear what the relationship status is at this time, but a love letter it's not:
I am leading a very lonely and quiet life. Although here and there certain lights would like to awaken me, yet since you all left Vienna, I feel within me a void which cannot be filled and which even my art, which is usually so faithful to me, has not yet been able to make me forget. …
I would like you to have everything that is good and beautiful in life. Remember me and do so with pleasure — Forget my mad behavior — Rest assured that nobody can wish you a gayer and happier life than I and I desire it even if you take no interest whatever in your devoted servant and friend, Beethoven.” (Emily Anderson, Beethoven Letters, No. 258)