9 Things You Didn’t Know About Für Elise

9 Things You Didn’t Know About Fà ¼r Elise SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips From its first repeating notes, Fà ¼r Elise is instantly recognizable. It may even be the most famous melody ever written! But did you know that when Beethoven first drafted this short piano piece, he stuffed it in a drawer, never to be seen in his lifetime? Curious how it went from forgotten trifle to universally known? Wondering what exactly makes it such an unforgettable earworm? Need some tips on learning to play this piece? Then keep reading for everything you've ever wanted to know about one of Beethoven's best-known masterpieces. Fà ¼r Elise: The Basics Ludwig van Beethoven wrote Fà ¼r Elise 1810 as a small piece for the piano, and then put it aside with his many other draft works. We only have it because a musicologist found it and published it in 1867! And it's a good thing for us that Fà ¼r Elise was finally found! Its first five notes (alternating E and D-sharp) have become as famous as the booming da-da-da-dum first notes of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. Why has this piece been so popular ever since its publication? Musically, Fà ¼r Elise is deeply melodic and full of nostalgic feeling, with a relatively simple harmony that makes it very accessible and not overly intellectually demanding. At the same time, because its first part is easy even for a beginner piano player to learn, but is also beautiful, it is often assigned by piano teachers the world over, perpetuating its fame. And finally, the romantic and mysterious possibilities of its name make us wonder about the identity of Elise and the love life of its composer! Where Can I Listen to Fà ¼r Elise? Before diving into the history and background of this piece, here are some versions that will give you a great sense of the range of interpretations out there. Start with this straightforward Fà ¼r Elise piano recording: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8ECRYcXtEg[/embed] Then, you can explore interesting takeoffs, samples, and modifications. On the piano, there is a great blues-imbued version, as well as a ragtime version. At the same time, the piece's arpeggios make it a popular choice for classical guitar interpretations like this one. Because Fà ¼r Elise is so incredibly popular, there are a million and one versions of it on YouTube. Do a quick search and check out the versions played by wildly talented four-year-old prodigies! I wouldn't be surprised if there's a cat-playing-violin version out there somewhere. The History of Fà ¼r Elise In 1810, when he was 40 years old, Ludwig van Beethoven was already renowned as one of the greatest composers of all time. He was also already plagued by the horrible tinnitus that preceded his eventual deafness. Although the very next year he stopped performing in public altogether, he never stopped composing. On April 27th, 1810, Beethoven drafted a bagatelle - a small, unimportant song - and jotted the label "Fà ¼r Elise" on it in his famously messy handwriting. But he never published this piece of music. Instead, it sat in a drawer until 1822, when Beethoven revised it slightly, and shoved it back into the same drawer. In 1827, Beethoven died, and his bagatelle never saw the light of day. It was only in 1867, 40 years after Beethoven's death, that a musicologist named Ludwig Nohl found the piece of music and published it. Who Was Elise? Remember how I told you that Beethoven jotted the words "Fà ¼r Elise" on his final draft of the sheet music? Well, it turns out that we only know this from Ludwig Nohl, the man who found and published the piece. The actual final draft itself is missing! Not only that, but no distinct records, letters, or accounts from people at the time make mention of an "Elise" in Beethoven's life. So who was the mysterious Elise that Beethoven apparently dedicated this music to? There is no conclusive answer to this question. There are several theories, however, which I will lay out in order of most to least likely. Theory #1: "Elise" Was Beethoven's "One That Got Away" Beethoven had a doomed love affair with a woman named Therese Malfatti. She was his student, and he fell in love with her right around the time of the composition of Fà ¼r Elise. We aren't quite sure exactly how they broke up, but we do know that he proposed, and she either said no right away, or strung him along for a while and then said no. Either way, Therese then married someone else. So, the most popular theory is that our friend Ludwig Nohl misread Beethoven’s messy handwriting, and that in reality, the piece was labeled "Fà ¼r Therese" not "Fà ¼r Elise." Theory #2: "Elise" Was Beethoven's Opera Singer BFF A few years before writing Fà ¼r Elise, Beethoven became friends with an opera singer named Elisabeth Rà ¶ckel, whose nickname may well have been Elise (Elizabeth to Elise doesn't seem to be that much of a stretch, but we don't have any documentary evidence that anyone actually did call her Elise). Beethoven and Rockel were close friends until she married Beethoven's frenemy, Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Perhaps Fà ¼r Elise was written in the midst of this friendship - or as a way of saying good-bye. Theory #3: "Elise" Was One of Therese Malfatti's Friends The least likely scenario is that Beethoven wrote the piece for another woman nicknamed Elise - Juliane Katharine Elisabet Barensfeld, who used "Elise" as a variant first name. She was a musical child prodigy who was Therese Malfatti's neighbor and conceivably could have been her student. This theory holds that Beethoven was willing to do anything for his one great love, Therese, including writing a quick piece of music for one of her favorites. Since there's not enough evidence to prove it conclusively, we should probably use Occam’s razor for this one. To whom is a sad, longing love song dedicated? Probably to the lost love of Beethoven's life, Therese. What Does the Title of Fà ¼r Elise Mean? The full title of Beethoven's piece of music is Fà ¼r Elise: Bagatelle in A minor WoO 59. In reality, the stuff after the colon is the official title, and "Fà ¼r Elise" is just a nickname for the piece. This is because musical compositions have a specific naming system that references type, key, and a numbering system. Let's unpack each of the components of this title separately. Fà ¼r Elise. The words â€Å"Fà ¼r Elise† mean â€Å"for Elise† in German. Bagatelle. This is the piece of music's type (other types include sonatas, etudes, symphonies, and so on). A bagatelle is a short, lighthearted, and generally frivolous piece of music. Similar words have also been used to describe this piece. Sometimes the title uses the word "Albumblatt," which means "album leaf" - a short, pleasant, usually solo piano piece that friends could easily share by pasting into each other's musical albums. More rarely, you might find Fà ¼r Elise labeled as a "Klavierstà ¼cke" which is simply German for "piano piece." A Minor. "A" stands for the music's key, indicating the scale - the set of notes divided by regular intervals - that the piece uses. In this case, Fà ¼r Elise is based on the scale that is anchored by the A key. 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 59. 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. However, not only did Beethoven not number Fà ¼r Elise, but he really only gave opus numbers to his most significant published pieces. 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. So, in this case, WoO 59 means that Fà ¼r Elise was the 59th bagatelle to be published that hadn't been given a number by Beethoven himself. Fà ¼r Elise Musical Analysis Now that we've explored the history and romance behind the work, let's check out what's under the hood. How is Fà ¼r Elise Structured? As we already saw from its title, this piece is in the key of A minor. It's time signature is 3/8, so there are 3 beats in each measure and each eighth note (â™ ª) gets 1 beat. Fà ¼r Elise is a rondo, with a A–B–A–C–A structure. 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. However, Fà ¼r Elise's other themes are in complete contrast to the main theme, creating a sense of whimsy, unpredictability, and playfulness. What's the Musical Style of Fà ¼r Elise? Fà ¼r Elise is part of the Romantic music movement that developed in the late 18th and early 19th century in Europe along with Romanticism in the arts in general. 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. We can see some of this in the way Fà ¼r Elise shuttles back and forth between the forlorn plea of the repeated main theme and the sudden, mercurial shifts in tone of the B and C themes. Romanticism is like a storm: moody, unpredictable, wild, and dominating puny humans. 8 Tips for Learning to Play Fà ¼r Elise Have you decided to learn how to play Fà ¼r Elise on the piano? Here are some things to keep in mind! Are You a Beginner? Because the most famous part of Fà ¼r Elise - the main theme - is reasonably easy to play, many piano teachers assign just that first part of the piece to their students early on in their piano learning. 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. You may want to write out each note’s fingering in your score to help you articulate the music well. Legato, legato, legato. Think of the left-hand’s arpeggios as almost-chords. 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. Are You Playing at an Intermediate Level? If you're learning all three section of Fà ¼r Elise, here are tips to help you: Learn the sections in order of difficulty. As we've already seen, theme A is the least technically challenging. The most technically difficult section is the B theme, so you may want to save that one for last. Learn each section on its own, phrase by phrase. Rely on repetition for easier memorizing. The rondo form makes learning the piece by heart much easier, since 3 out of 5 sections are the same. Focus on the transitions between the sections to confidently go in and out of each. Stress the contrast. Fà ¼r Elise is marked by the shifting tones and moods of its three sections. Maintain the contrast demanded by the different sections, and connect your playing with the mood you want to convey. Are You an Advanced Musician? At this point in your musical career, you're no longer as worried about physically being able to carry the piece from sheet music to keyboard. Instead, here are some thoughts about your main challenges: Proper wrist placement. For an even smoother performance, you may want to rethink the way you hold your wrists and how to relieve tension in them while playing. This blog post has some very helpful pointers. Make your mark, find your voice. The biggest challenge for those who can readily overcome the technical challenges is that Fà ¼r Elise is everywhere and has been interpreted many, many times over. How do you bring your own quality to such a widely known work? You may want to simply avoid other interpretations while working on a piece, so that someone else's vision doesn't influence your version. Think deeply about what you want to convey, and which aspects of Beethoven's music you want to illuminate. Let these ideas be the guiding principles of your interpretation. All together now! Where Can I Find Fà ¼r Elise Sheet Music? For beginners. If you'd like a version that has only the first section, clearly labels each note with its corresponding key, and leaves out the sustains, check out this easy piano rendition. For more advanced players. If you're looking for sheet music to learn to play the piece, you can use this printable very cleanly edited PDF version. For research and study. If you are curious about the first printed version that has the D in the 7th measure instead of the E as we now accept, explore a PDF of a potentially misprinted publication. Or you can check out the draft in Beethoven’s hand that informs how we play the piece now. Fà ¼r Elise in the World I wasn't exaggerating when I said that Fà ¼r Elise is now everywhere. Here are some of the more and less unlikely places it has turned up: Garbage trucks in Taiwan use the tune, as part of that country's completely revolutionary approach to dealing with waste. Check out the 99% Invisible podcast for more of this great story. American rapper Nas built his 2002 song "I Can" around samples of this piece. Elephant, Gus Van Sant's 2003 movie about teenage alienation, used Fà ¼r Elise as a haunting refrain. The Peanuts character Schroeder performs the piece in A Charlie Brown Christmas. The Takeaway: 9 Amazing Fà ¼r Elise Facts Fà ¼r Elise was lost for over 50 years until a musicologist found it and published it after Beethoven's death. And then that final draft copy was lost again and has never been found. We do still have an earlier draft copy of Fà ¼r Elise in Beethoven's hand, but that one isn't labeled "Fà ¼r Elise." No one knows who Elise really was! But most likely, she was Therese Malfatti, the woman who broke Beethoven's heart. Fà ¼r Elise is versatile enough to have been musically reinterpreted as blues and ragtime, and used as a sample in a Nas song. There are actually three separate sections in Fà ¼r Elise: the first, most famous section repeats between two other sections. As part of the Romantic music movement that explored beautifully terrifying and unknowable spiritual and emotional experiences, Fà ¼r Elise contrasts the sad wistfulness of its main theme with the unpredictable wildness of its other two themes. Part of the reason Fà ¼r Elise remains so popular is that piano teachers the world over assign its first section to their beginner students. Because there are so many versions of Fà ¼r Elise out there, it can be very hard for professional musicians to put their own spin on this work. Garbage trucks in Taiwan use Fà ¼r Elise to let people know that the garbage pickup is happening, in kind of same the way ice cream trucks use tunes in the U.S. to get people to line up for frozen dessert.

The Battle of the Java Sea in World War II

The Battle of the Java Sea in World War II The Battle of the Java Sea occurred on February 27, 1942, and was an early naval engagement of World War II (1939-1945) in the Pacific. With the beginning of fighting in the Dutch East Indies, Allied forces attempted to unite to slow the Japanese advance south towards Australia. This saw a combined American, British, Dutch, and Australian fleet formed to protect Java. In late February, this fleets Eastern Strike Force, led by Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, engaged the approaching Japanese in the Java Sea. In the resulting engagement, Doorman doggedly attacked the Japanese but proved unable to halt their advance. The battle concluded with the loss of the light cruisers HNLMS De Ruyter and Java as well as Doormans death. In the wake of the fighting, the remaining Allied ships fled though most were destroyed in separate actions a short time later. Background In early 1942, with the Japanese rapidly advancing south through the Dutch East Indies, the Allies attempted to mount a defense of Java in an effort to hold the Malay Barrier. Concentrating under the unified command known as American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, Allied naval units were divided between bases at Tandjong Priok (Batavia) in the west and Surabaya in the east. Overseen by Dutch Vice Admiral Conrad Helfrich, ABDA forces were badly outnumbered and in poor condition for the approaching fight. To take the island, the Japanese formed two major invasion fleets. Japanese Attacks Along the Malay Barrier. US Army Center for Military History Japanese Sighted Sailing from Jolo in the Philippines, the Japanese Eastern Invasion Fleet was spotted by ABDA aircraft on February 25. This led Helfrich to reinforce Rear Admiral Karel Doormans Eastern Strike Force at Surabaya the next day with several ships from the Royal Navy. Upon their arrival, Doorman held a meeting with his captains to discuss the upcoming campaign. Departing that evening, Doormans force consisted of two heavy cruisers (USS Houston HMS Exeter), three light cruisers (HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java, HMAS Perth), as well as three British, two Dutch, and four American (Destroyer Division 58) destroyers. Sweeping the north coast of Java and Madura, Doormans ships failed to locate the Japanese and turned for Surabaya. A short distance to the north, the Japanese invasion force, protected by two heavy cruisers (Nachi Haguro), two light cruisers (Naka Jintsu), and fourteen destroyers, under Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi, slowly moved towards Surabaya. At 1:57 PM on February 27, a Dutch scout plane located the Japanese approximately 50 miles north of the port. Receiving this report, the Dutch admiral, whose ships were beginning to enter the harbor, reversed course to seek battle. ABDA Commander Rear Admiral Karel Doorman2 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, nine destroyers Japanese Commanders Rear Admiral  Takeo TakagiRear Admiral Shoji Nishimura2 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, fourteen destroyers The Battle Begins Sailing north, Doormans exhausted crews prepared to meet the Japanese. Flying his flag from De Ruyter, Doorman deployed his ships in three columns with his destroyers flanking the cruisers. At 3:30 PM, a Japanese air raid forced the ABDA fleet to disperse. Around 4:00 PM, Jintsu spotted the re-formed ABDA ships to the south. Turning with four destroyers to engage, Jintsus column opened the battle at 4:16 PM as the Japanese heavy cruisers and additional destroyers came up in support. As both sides exchanged fire, Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimuras Destroyer Division 4 closed and launched a torpedo attack. Exeter Disabled Around 5:00 PM, Allied aircraft struck the Japanese transports but scored no hits. At the same time, Takagi, feeling the battle was drifting too close to the transports, ordered his ships to close with the enemy. Doorman issued a similar order and the range between the fleets narrowed. As the fighting intensified, Nachi struck Exeter with an 8 shell that disabled most of the ships boilers and created confusion in the ABDA line. Badly damaged, Doorman ordered Exeter to return to Surabaya with the destroyer HNLMS Witte de With as an escort. The Sides Close Shortly thereafter, the destroyer HNLMS Kortenaer was sunk by a Japanese Type 93 Long Lance torpedo. His fleet in disarray, Doorman broke off the battle to reorganize. Takagi, believing the battle was won, ordered his transports to turn south towards Surabaya. Around 5:45 PM, the action was renewed as Doormans fleet turned back towards the Japanese. Finding that Takagi was crossing his T, Doorman ordered his destroyers forward to attack the approaching Japanese light cruisers and destroyers. In the resulting action, the destroyer Asagumo was crippled and HMS Electra sunk. Repeated Attacks At 5:50, Doorman swung his column around to a southeast heading and ordered the American destroyers to cover his withdrawal. In response to this attack and concerns about mines, Takagi turned his force north shortly before sunset. Unwilling to give in, Doorman steamed away into the darkness before planning another strike on the Japanese. Turning northeast then northwest, Doorman hoped to swing around Takagis ships to reach the transports. Anticipating this, and confirmed by sightings from spotter planes, the Japanese were in position to meet the ABDA ships when they reappeared at 7:20 PM. After a brief exchange of fire and torpedoes, the two fleets separated again, with Doorman taking his ships inshore along the Java coast in another attempt to circle around the Japanese. At approximately 9:00 PM, the four American destroyers, out of torpedoes and low on fuel, detached and returned to Surabaya. Over the next hour, Doorman lost his last two destroyers when HMS Jupiter was sunk by a Dutch mine and HMS Encounter was detached to pick up survivors from Kortenaer. A Final Clash Sailing on with his four remaining cruisers, Doorman moved north and was spotted by lookouts aboard Nachi at 11:02 PM. As the ships began to exchange fire, Nachi and Haguro fired spreads of torpedoes. One from Haguro fatally struck De Ruyter at 11:32 PM exploding one of its magazines and killing Doorman. Java was hit by one of Nachis torpedoes two minutes later and sank. Obeying Doormans final orders, Houston and Perth fled the scene without stopping to pick up survivors. Aftermath The Battle of the Java Sea was a resounding victory for the Japanese and effectively ended meaningful naval resistance by ABDA forces. On February 28, Takagis invasion force began landing troops forty miles to the west of Surabaya at Kragan. In the fighting, Doorman lost two light cruisers and three destroyers, as well as one heavy cruiser badly damaged and around 2,300 killed. Japanese losses numbered one destroyer badly damaged and another with moderate damage. HMS Exeter sinks during the Second Battle of the Java Sea, March 1, 1942. US Naval History Heritage Command Though soundly defeated, that the Battle of the Java Sea lasted seven hours is a testament to Doormans determination to defend the island at all costs. Many of the remaining units of his fleet were subsequently destroyed at the Battle of the Sunda Strait (February 28/March 1) and the Second Battle of the Java Sea (March 1). Many of the wrecks of those ships lost at the Battle of the Java Sea and the subsequent actions have been destroyed by illegal salvage operations.