Who is fur elise

Keys are divided into major and minor, depending on the intervals between the notes used in the scale. Here, the minor key is a technical way to convey which notes should be played higher or lower than the corresponding natural notes. It also tells us about the musicality of the piece.

In Western music, music in a minor key sounds sad , helping with the sense of longing and wistfulness that characterizes the melody. WoO Usually, composers number their published pieces of music, using the Latin term "opus" which means "work" and whatever number followed in sequence from the last piece of the same type.

Because of this, much of his work has been assigned numbers by later publishers, using the German term "werk ohne opuszahl" meaning "work without opus number" and abbreviated as WoO and a number in sequence. Now that we've explored the history and romance behind the work, let's check out what's under the hood.

As we already saw from its title, this piece is in the key of A minor. In other words, its first section main theme A is repeated between its other sections themes B and C. The first section is the famous melody that everyone knows, with the right hand playing the melody itself and with the left hand playing arpeggios chords played note by note instead of all at once.

The other sections are more challenging, incorporating the keys E major, C major, G major, and F major. The repeated central theme's A minor key builds a melancholy, longing mood. Note that capital-R Romanticism has nothing to do with small-r romance. Instead, Romantic music was characterized by ideas of revolting against Industrial Revolution and the perceived triumph of hyper-rationalism.

Romanticism instead embraced a preoccupation with nature, an imagined glorious past, and beautifully terrifying and unknowable spiritual and emotional experiences. Romanticism is like a storm: moody, unpredictable, wild, and dominating puny humans. Here are some things to keep in mind! Not only is it not technically difficult, but it also provides a good basic exercise for piano pedaling technique. Here's some advice for mastering the piece:. Watch out for tricky fingering. In this piece, precise finger position is key to the flow of the right-hand melody and the support of the left-hand arpeggios.

Legato, legato, legato. You should play them as smoothly as possible, gliding each note into the next. Imagine playing the piece as if you're trying to demonstrate perpetual motion. Your gently flowing tempo and legato should unite to let the melody shine. Imagine a conversation between right and left. Start by practicing hands separately. Then, when you're combining them, listen to the way the left and right hands reply to each other - it's almost a series of call-and-response questions, or a plaintive conversation.

To articulate this, carry your legato over from the right hand to the left and vice versa, and do not privilege one hand over the other in volume or tempo. Don't rush. Even after you've learned the melody, you have to keep your tempo slow to convey the wistful and sad mood. Beethoven marked the tempo as "molto grazioso," meaning a deeply graceful and even speed. Up for a challenge? Premium Members can access it right away.

Happy practicing! Method Lessons Games Premium More. Lessons for everyone! It is in the key of A minor, which gives it a sad or wistful sound, full of regret and longing. It is the easiest section to learn and play. The other sections are more difficult to play, although shorter in length. They are more virtuosic for the intermediate student, creating a flash of brilliant light among the repetitive darker minor strains of the A section.

This small piano piece has become the source of a much larger mystery. Who is the "Elise" Beethoven dedicated this "trifle" to? Was it a gift for one of his many adult female attachments, or was it a reward for one of his piano students who was making his progress?

Of the possible candidates, three stand out. Perhaps he wrote the piece as a farewell to her. At least one scholar thinks Beethoven wrote the piece for Elise, the young student, as a favor to Therese--perhaps to win her favor.

Of these three possibilities, Therese Malfatti emerges as the one with the most evidence in her favor. How did he meet her, and how did she inspire him to write such a lingering melody?

The composer could apparently still hear some speech and music until As he got progressively more deaf, his pieces got higher and higher. It seems almost strange then that, at the time it was composed, the piece was relatively incidental. See more Beethoven News. Discover Music.