Für Elise
June 11, 2026
Why did Ludwig write this awful piece?
It wasn’t free,
That was for süre.
The money (all in cash) came from Elise.
Thus it was she
He wrote it für.
—Josefa Heifetz (Jascha Heifetz’s daughter)
But, Ms. Heifetz, just because countless intermediate piano students have played Für Elise poorly, does that really mean it’s a bad piece of music? And just because it has become a world-wide ringtone, and Taiwanese garbage trucks honk their horns to its first nine notes, should I instinctively turn up my nose at this oh-so-popular creation?
The gently flowing notes in a minor key that begin Für Elise do so with a touch of melancholy. Then the music bursts exuberantly into a major key before returning to the opening in minor. Ominous repeated notes bring us momentarily to a darker place before spilling into a cadenza-like arpeggio. Then for the last time Für Elise returns to its melancholy beginning and ends in utmost simplicity. Playing time is a mere three minutes.
I imagine that the great musician pianists of our time who grapple with such monumental works as the late Schubert and Beethoven sonatas might regard Für Elise as a trifle not worth their consideration. And yet Beethoven himself must have liked the work enough to dedicate it to someone he admired and perhaps loved.
Für Elise is officially listed as “Bagatelle #25 in a minor,” and some musicologists believe that Beethoven intended it to be grouped with several other bagatelles that were planned but never written. A pity. Für Elise would have gained stature by joining the ranks of the three sets of bagatelles that Beethoven wrote during his lifetime.
But to whom did Beethoven actually dedicate Für Elise? Researchers have suggested as possibilities Therese Malfatti, Elisabeth Röckel, and Elise Barensfeld, all close friends and important people in his life. Would any of them still want to be associated with one of Beethoven’s most popular works, ironically also the most maligned and made fun of?
I feel just a tiny bit sorry for Für Elise, such a modest yet pleasing miniature. And for that reason Ms. Heifetz, please do not be offended if I somewhat amend your poem:
Why did Ludwig write this sweet rondeau?
To please a girl,
That is für süre.
Was it Elise? We shall never know.
No matter who,
He wrote it für.
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Comments
Most interesting mini-analysis that helps non-musicians like me better understand and enjoy the piece. I wonder why Ms Heifetz’s interpretation is so different from that of most musicologists. And I offer an amendment to the amendment: In line 4, changing “never” to “not ever” would add a foot and, I think, more closely match her meter.
Aw! I love it! It was a victory to have it assigned. A real piece by Beethoven? Fie on snobbism! No one’s going to be forced to play it..
List to Jon Batiste’s improvisation on Fur Elise, This piece is still inspiring people.
Thanks, Arnold ! This actually nice piece has gotten lost in the hands of many not so good students who have mangled it…..another fun ‘’strawberry “‘ !
My grandson, age 9 years, just played this sweet tune at his piano recital last Saturday! Such great memories…
Thanks for another delightful story. This was a very good way to begin a busy day.
Hi Arnold,
Thank you for another insightful essay.
In the art of painting world, masterpieces end up on coffee mugs and umbrellas, but I have never seen one on a garbage truck. I can only imagine whether a garbage truck might be improved in that way, but art lovers would certainly take exception. And the lovely painting above is of whom and by whom?
Fur whom?
Thank you, Arnold! As a young child, maybe 12, I felt such a thrill to be given a piece by Beethoven that was within my pianistic skills at the time and so proud to be almost a grownup, at least in my own mind. I thought it was a most beautiful piece, the opportunity to be truly expressive. My parents would have dinner parties and even wake me up to play the piano for the guests. Für Elise was played on many late nights by a not-too-sleepy young girl.
I read that Beethoven dedicated it to Therese but the publisher misunderstood and wrote Elise. Nobody will ever know whether this is true or not.
In Strasfogel told me that his family lived on the top floor of a buildingon west 53rd St. Their downstairs neighbor who had mental issues, practiced fur elise for several hours a day, always stopping in the middle and starting again. How his father, a child prodigy on the piano, and his mother, who taught Piano, survived this was never explained.
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