- Beethoven wrote this little piano piece at some point between 1808-1810.1
- Beethoven did not assign this piece an opus number, and it was not published during his lifetime.2 It is likely that the piece was a private gift to Therese Malfatti, the niece of one of Beethoven’s physicians. The manuscript was reportedly discovered among Therese Malfatti’s possessions in 1851, after her death.3
- In the spring of 1810, Beethoven’s actions indicate he was considering marriage: for example, he wrote to a friend in his hometown of Bonn to obtain a copy of his baptismal certificate to prove his age, a necessity for obtaining a marriage license.The woman Beethoven wanted to marry in 1810 was Therese Malfatti, and it appears that he did propose to her–possibly on the occasion that he gave her the bagatelle known as “Für Elise.” However, it appears that neither Therese nor her family had any enthusiasm for Beethoven’s attentions, possibly because Therese was about 19 and Beethoven was 40.
- This work was first published in a collection of Beethoven’s letters edited by Ludwig Nohl, which was printed in Stuttgart in 1867. Nohl transcribed the title as “Für Elise.” It is the general consensus among musicologists that Beethoven’s terrible handwriting confused Nohl, and that Beethoven’s manuscript actually read “Für Therese,” i.e., for Therese Malfatti. The original manuscript is lost, so there is currently no way to find out for sure.4
- The term bagatelle refers to a short piece of music that is light or frivolous in tone.
Sources
- Douglas Johnson et al, “Beethoven, Ludwig van,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed February 11, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040026.
- Ibid.
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Für Elise and Other Bagatelles, ed. Matthew Edwards (New York: G. Schirmer, 2007), ebook.
- Douglas Johnson et al, “Beethoven, Ludwig van,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed February 11, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040026.
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