Für Elise was written by the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, around 1810, and published posthumously.

Who wrote “Für Elise”?

  • The piano piece commonly known as “Für Elise” is a bagatelle in A minor by Ludwig van Beethoven, catalogued as WoO 59.
  • Musicologists date the original draft to April 27, 1810, when Beethoven was about 40 years old and already struggling with hearing loss.

A bit of backstory

  • Beethoven’s autograph manuscript was not published while he was alive; it remained among his drafts and was only discovered and issued in 1867 by Ludwig Nohl.
  • The dedication “Für Elise” is somewhat mysterious, with theories that it might actually have been “Für Therese” or perhaps written for the singer Elisabeth Röckel.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.