My Mistake Lead Me to an Unsolved Mystery

Beethoven’s Für Elise is a piece that is dear to my heart because of its place in my story of becoming a pianist. I was teaching this piece to one of my students this year and I’m embarrassed to admit that I kept playing a note wrong…and I didn’t even realize it! After I made a recording to share with her, I listened to it while reading the score that she is using to learn it. I noticed that I kept playing an E at the end of each A section, instead of the D that was written in the score. What the heck!? Why did that D sound wrong to me? How embarrassing! I decided that I must practice it until the D sounded & felt correct, then record it correctly and NEVER mention the mistake to anyone…

Then, since I had to record it again anyway, I thought, maybe I should do a little research on Für Elise. How is this piece supposed to be played? What markings did Beethoven put in the score? Who is Elise? Why are there so many interpretations of this piece? And how could I use this as an opportunity to help my student connect to Beethoven.

I just received a subscription to Tonebase (an online database of lessons and courses by concert pianists), so I started my research there by watching a lesson on Für Elise by Seymour Bernstein. It was so interesting! I realized how little I knew about this piece that has such an important part in my development as a musician! There was a passing comment that the pianist made that caught my ear…”Notice the end of each A section has the D in it”. What?! There’s that note again!

…So I did more research. What was published in the original edition? What did Beethoven actually write?…

Für Elise,
WoO 59

This photo (provided by Henle) is of an original draft by Beethoven, which can be found in Beethoven-Haus Bonn. The final draft of his manuscript has been lost.

I discovered that there is WAY more to this little note than I realized. I wasn’t playing a “wrong note” per se. I was playing it the way I learned it when I was 10 years old. The edition that I used when I was a kid was the same as the first edition published in 1867 (which was 40 years after the composer’s death). After that first publication there has been more research done on the piece, and at some point an original draft by Beethoven was found, from 1810. In that draft he actually wrote the D. (See the image above.) Beethoven’s “original manuscript” (which is the final version of the draft) was found by the first publisher and then lost again. So now we have this first publication that is not backed by evidence, but by the publisher’s testimony of what Beethoven originally wrote. It’s just that we also have an original draft written by Beethoven, that contradicts the publisher.

So now you must decide… Will you play the D that Beethoven wrote in his draft? Or will you play the E, which is what the publisher “said” that Beethoven wrote (which also has the potential of being a mistake on the part of the publisher). Hmmm…

So here we are. I now feel comfortable mentioning my “mistake” when I first recorded this piece. It has been a reminder that mistakes are important! They help us learn!!! And now I realize that my mistake is based on a mystery that is still unsolved. (dun dun dun…) If you notice in my recording, I decided to side myself with Beethoven. Plus, I really like the sound of that D!

I kept playing an E instead of the D that is highlighted here.

Read more about the note in this article…

Henle.de/blog

(please note, the score that is shown in my recording is in the public domain and it contains the E instead of the D highlighted in the image above. All of the public domain scores that I found for this piece are the same as the first edition. The editions that contain the D are all under copyright.)