Who Was Beethoven's Elise? The Three Women Behind Für Elise

Who wrote Für Elise, and who was Elise? Beethoven wrote it, never published it, and nobody has settled who she was. The page he dated 27 April 1810 was printed once, in 1867, then lost. The backstory of Für Elise, in order, in 37 minutes. In the spring of 1810 Beethoven was thirty-nine and going deaf. He bought a mirror, ordered shirts and sent to Bonn for his baptismal certificate: he meant to marry Therese Malfatti. She refused him. A page dated 27 April 1810 stayed in her music. Nohl copied it once and printed it in 1867; the sheet has not been seen since. Three women have been proposed as Elise: Therese herself; the singer Elisabeth Röckel; and Elise Barensfeld, thirteen, from across the street. This episode does not close the question, because the record does not. It is also a listening film: twelve cleared recordings under the story, and from 34:16 the whole piece plays, once, with nobody talking over it, under the six pages of Nohl's 1867 first printing - the only copy of the lost page anyone ever made. Also written Fur Elise. Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59. Why Für Elise is so famous, and its true story, explained. CHAPTERS 0:00 Who was Elise? The question, and the myth 0:49 Who was Beethoven? Bonn 1770, and going deaf 1:54 1808: the Für Elise tune in a sketchbook 2:42 The Malfatti house on the Rotenturmstrasse 4:13 April 1810: a mirror, and new shirts 5:24 27 April 1810: the date on the page 8:08 The letter to Bonn, and the certificate 9:29 Therese Malfatti turns Beethoven down 13:19 1822: Beethoven rewrites Für Elise in pencil 14:37 March 1827: Beethoven dies, Röckel is there 16:23 Therese Malfatti afterwards 18:15 Munich: how the Für Elise page survived 20:27 Ludwig Nohl prints Für Elise in 1867 23:01 The original manuscript is lost 24:09 Für Therese? Max Unger's misreading, 1923 25:39 Elisabeth Röckel, the singer at his deathbed 28:35 Elise Barensfeld, the child across the street 30:55 Where Für Elise is now: garbage trucks and fame The Lost Chord - the lives behind the music. Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLostChord... All episodes:    • Composer Documentaries | Full Life Stories...   Watch next - He Never Heard His Own 9th:    • Beethoven Never Heard His Own 9th | Full L...   #FurElise #Beethoven #ClassicalMusic MUSIC - no credit is on screen, so these lines are the attribution: Andante favori in F, WoO 57 - Harald Vetter, piano (CC BY) Egmont Overture, Op. 84 - Czech National Symphony Orchestra for Musopen (CC0 / public domain, musopen.org) Für Elise (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59) - V. Gao ('Gaodifan'), piano, 2006 (CC0 / public-domain dedication, Wikimedia Commons) Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat, Op. 73 'Emperor' - Adagio un poco moto - HaeSun Paik, piano; New York Classical Players, cond. Dongmin Kim, Jordan Hall, Boston, 2025 (CC BY) Piano Sonata No. 15 in D, Op. 28 'Pastoral' - II. Andante - Karine Gilanyan, piano (public-domain dedication, Free Music Archive) Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 - II. Arietta - Daniel Veesey, piano (public-domain dedication, Free Music Archive) Piano Sonata No. 7 in D, Op. 10 No. 3 - II. Largo e mesto - Daniel Veesey, piano (public-domain dedication, Free Music Archive) Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathétique' - II. Adagio cantabile - Daniel Veesey, piano (public-domain dedication, Free Music Archive) Piano Trio Op. 70 No. 1 'Ghost' - Largo assai ed espressivo - Abi Fayette, Madeline Fayette, Alice Chenyang Xu; New York Classical Players, 2023 (CC BY) Seven Bagatelles, Op. 33 - No. 1 - FAE Piano cafe, piano (CC BY) Six Bagatelles, Op. 126 - Clavierhaus Vienna, Bechstein D 282, Ehrbar-Saal, Vienna, 2020 (CC BY) String Quartet Op. 132 - Molto adagio ('Heiliger Dankgesang') - Brian Bak, Gergana Haralampieva, Jay Yiu, Madeline Fayette; New York Classical Players, 2020 (CC BY) IMAGERY - Creative Commons Attribution, credit required: Josef Willibrord Mähler, Beethoven c. 1804-05 - Wien Museum inv. 104650, CC BY 4.0, photo Birgit und Peter Kainz, Wien Museum Hans Weingartz - the Bonn baptismal register, 1770 (CC BY 3.0) MOs810 - the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn (CC BY 4.0) Jorge Franganillo - the Bonngasse, Bonn (CC BY 2.0) Billie Grace Ward - the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (CC BY 2.0) Eric Fischer - a public piano, Munich Airport (CC BY 2.0) Clavierhaus Vienna - a Bechstein D 282, Ehrbar-Saal, from their recording of the Six Bagatelles Op. 126 (CC BY) Matt Brown - a 'Play Me, I'm Yours' street piano, Crossrail Place, Canary Wharf (CC BY 2.0) Public domain, CC0 and PD Mark: Beethoven-Haus Bonn; Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; Bodleian Libraries; Wien Museum; the Met; Rijksmuseum; SMK; Bayerische Staatsbibliothek; Kunsthistorisches Museum; Library of Congress; Archives of Ontario; UC Libraries; Breitkopf und Härtel; Carl von Saar; Josef Danhauser; Waldmüller; Schwind; Ed. Lange, Heidelberg; Goethe-Museum Düsseldorf; Praefcke; Gugerell; Geheimnisforscher; Almanaque Lusofonista; Brandtner. Everything on screen is real; none of it is AI.