1810: Beethoven: Für Elise in A minor

FRIDAY, September 18, 2020 – 10:31 AM

Or for someone…

We don’t know who Beethoven wrote this for, but he wrote it for somebody, a student or perhaps the student of a friend. It was not published until long after he died.

Für Elise (For Elise) is one of the most famous pieces of music ever written for piano. Just about every piano student who has ever lived has played it, usually very badly. It is rare to hear a top artist playing something so well-known and so simple with dead serious intentions, and this is one of those rarities. This, by the way, is the same man who played the “eerie Rachmaninov music”.

And another version…

Here is another player with a different interpretation. The tempo is a bit freer and more what I would do myself, but both interpretations are utterly convincing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAsDLGjMhFI

17 thoughts on “1810: Beethoven: Für Elise in A minor

  1. I like the way the two pianists used crescendos and decrescendos to give the piece more feeling behind it. Little details like this really make music more interesting to listen to. I liked the man better than the woman.

    1. There are many stories about who Elise really was, but for me the wonder is that the original by Beethoven is so basic in notation that there is almost nothing there. It seems he scribbled it out quickly and then was done with it. It’s a great illustration of how creators never know which of their creations will catch on and stay famous for many centuries.

    1. I replaced the second version because it is no longer there. Some kind of copyright problem in YouTube itself. Another reason to listen to anything that is there, because you never know when it will disappear.

    1. Michael, I thought for sure I had given you the whole thing. If you don’t have a final copy, I’ll make sure you have it. It’s something you want in your fingers because everyone knows it. And although everyone in the world seems to play it, not many people play it well.

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