Für Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven

Für Elise is a posthumously published—and possibly unfinished—work for the piano by Ludwig van Beethoven. The original manuscript is now lost, but a copy was published in 1867 and the transcriber claimed the original was dated April 27, 1810. The piece was dedicated to “Elise”, whose identity has been much speculated upon but never confirmed. Even though the dedication was not a title, it is how the piece is most commonly known. The WoO number is a sequential catalog number assigned to Beethoven's works without an opus number, making the piece his 59th known work without an opus number. Despite having been published long after his death, Für Elise is one of his most popular works, even inspiring Wolf Hoffmann's solo on the title track of Accept's 1985 album, Metal Heart.

The piece follows an ABACA structure, but I have transcribed for guitar only the A part that most people are familiar with. I may transcribe the rest of the piece should the desire arise. When this piece is performed on the guitar, the melody is usually played an octave lower than on the piano while retaining the same register for the bass. I have chosen to keep the melody in the original register. Unfortunately, it is impossible to play the bass notes in measures 10–12 in the original register at the same time as the melody. Therefore, I have raised those notes an octave. I have also resorted to using an artificial harmonic to play the high E in measure 14 that would otherwise not be possible to play.