Beethoven was playing jazz like passages with syncopated rhythms long before jazz even existed. He really experimented a lot and this version is very jazzy like.
To me, the accelerated triplets feel a little out of place.. not sure if it's because I"m so used to the classic version,.. I think if there was more of it in triplets the flow would have felt smoother? The classic version is very smooth flowing and I find the "new" one a little jarring
The second version is really imteresting in how it shows how a) it's a snapshot of Beethovens different style at 1822, and b) how Beethoven would probably like to improvise. An extra transition here, some juxtaposition of the different sections there. It's honestly inspiring and makes me want to learn the two versions, to mishmash between them!! There's a lot to love about the second version!
@@themusicprofessor I hate to do this to you, but my ears cringe when you pronounce the word "für." And I hate to use this as a quick guide, but try saying "Führer" and drop the final "er," and you'll be close enough. And the "r" in "für" is only about half-pronounced, from an English perspective.
@@grizzlygrizzle Greetings! I'm German, and frankly I found his pronounciation of the 'ü' in 'Für' quite good. Many English native speakers usually have some problems with the correct pronounciation of the German diphthongs. But not him obviously. So Kudos to him from me for that. Instead I would have a minor quibble about the name, Elise. It's actually a French shorter version of 'Elisabeth', and he pronounces it in the ( correct of course ! ) French way, muting the 'e' at the end, whereas most Germans don't pronounce it in the French way, but use a German dialect for it instead, where the 'e' is not muted. I assume Beethoven himself might have pronounced the name in the German way too, because otherwise he probably would have called the piece completely in French 'Pour Elise' .... Of course that's only a speculation of mine, but I guess quite a reasonable one. It's difficult to describe, how it sounds in German, but I would say it sounds quite similar to how a strictly-Oxford- English-speaking person would pronounce the 'e' in the middle of 'her' for instance. It may sound not exactly the same, but quite similar. Actually it is difficult to find a better example, since there is no exact sound equivalent in English to this German end-'e'.
It's so ironic that the version that Beethoven wanted to publish is virtually unknown, while the version he apparently didn't care much for went viral. There's probably a lesson there for us all.
It's that you can never really know people's likes and dislikes regardless how much you know about anything, so you're better off just living life and doing whatever instead of trying to predict outcomes. Another interesting fact - Shook Ones Part. 2 by Mobb Deep almost got deleted from the hard drive because Havoc didn't think it was any good, but Mobb Deep thought it sounded fire and demanded to use it. Now it's one of the most known and influential instrumentals in hiphop history.
Beethoven is my favorite composer. I have a collection of all of his works. I learned to speak German and traveled all the way to Vienna, from America to put flowers on his grave. My little girl has been raised on classical music and especially Beethoven. To me he is the greatest of all the composers and his music is on a higher level to all others. It’s his passion, soul and emotion that he used in his music that makes him special. He was the first Rock star.
Fully agree. I started my classical journey with the usual suspects; Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach, Handel and I loved them all - but it was Beethoven who really got me hooked.
But You in America have also at least one region where MUSIC is at home: Minneapolis were Prince Rogers Nelson did comparable things as Ludwig van Beethoven in Vienna. I also visited the grave of Beethoven in Vienna, but Minneapolis, especially Paisley Park is still on my long term agenda to visit to. 🙏 🎹🎵
When I was going to high school in the early 90s my music teacher was an 85-year-old man who is a huge Beethoven fan. This is the version that he taught us.
I always noted that the more commonly known version, at least in my copy said "attributed to.." in the margin. It always seemed like something of a reduced simpler version of something he would write. Such was also common back then in writing and music, that is, making "children's versions" of adult stories or music. We also see this with Mozart's famous variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman", with the versions that we use for children's songs being vastly simplified due to him just writing technically complex music that most people had a hard time playing. Only the first, most simple variation would most people be able to sing or play at home. The other 11 in the set are indeed his work. Frustratingly so. Lol. And, yes, buried in the middle is the minor one you know must have existed. Why this is also relevant is that in the second to last variation ( marked Adagio ) you hear figures that must have been known to Beethoven and are very similar to ones he used in this piece. A nice nod to a previous master.
Honestly, the popular version is better IMO. It actually feels somewhat more refined, even though it's an earlier version. The 2nd version feels a bit too complex while not being complex enough at the same time (like, it adds more complexity just for the sake of adding complexity). To me, the simplicity of the popular version just works better. And IMO the popular version also has a better flow. The transition to the F major section was IMO unnecessary and didn't really help with the flow that much. Yeah, the popular version is also somewhat clumsy with its transition, but I think it still works just fine (and as I said, the transition in the 2nd version doesn't really help with the flow, so I prefer the simpler transition, if you can even call it a transition). I'm also not a huge fan of the added embellishments in the main theme. But maybe my ears are biased because the popular version is so familiar...
I agree. Mostly I feel here that the swirl of it, the spirit is missing in this one a bit. It is a hard piece to master technically, but doing the popular version right is harder because it focusses more on elegance and emotion.
@@thomaswateren3967 I think they both have a certain elegance and naivety syncretised with nostalgic melancholia. However, I am not sure about the 'missing spirit ' part. What intrigues me about the second version is the search for new musical ideas; in my opinion, the exploration in the second version is more for the composer than the emotion that triggered the composition. It feels like the master senses an opening for further expression but is not fully satisfied with his finding.
I think I agree for the most part. Some of the new additions sound nice, but others sound more like someone playing the original tune and getting frustrated or bored, so they just ad-libbed to see if anyone would notice!
I learned to play it competently when I was seven. No joke! It was a show piece for me I’d drag out for guests, “Fur Elise,” The slow movement of “Moonlight Sonata,” and Bach’s “Ave Maria.” I never knew of a “Second Fur Elise!” And now for the rest of the story (an homage to Paul Harvey - “Good Day!”). I quit piano lessons when I was thirteen after I took up playing the banjo. Again, no joke! I’m 66 now, I cannot play the piano or decently read music, but I play Fur Elise by ear from memory on a mandolin, five sting banjo, and sometimes, the guitar. Banjos make for good classical music if you can toss out the stereotypes. They can have a harpsichord essence about them. 😮
I am not a music student. My granddaughter played this when she was eight. I just .thought Id listen to your video. I was so impressed with the historical and fairly persoal account of Fur Elise. You were so interesting and have a talent for communicating information as well as your piano skills. I love music, but do not understand its dynamics, and you just gave me a look into another world talking about the process of composition and math, and rhythm. Thank you ! I thoroughly enjoyed this. I am forwarding this video to my granddaughter. She is 16 and was just recently awarded a full musical scholarship in piano at Websrer University, St Louis. Mo. She's been playing since she was 2 1/2 and has never had formal piano lessons, and has delighted us with her dedication and love of the instrument. I'm sure she will enjoy yoyr video. I'm going to watch more.
This has been so enjoyable. I actually understand what you’re saying, and I have no musical talent. Listening to you I believe I could learn to understand and play. I had lessons when I was a young, but there was never any rhyme or reason to why I was doing things. In those days you just learned that your through memorization. The way you addressed this piece needed more like an learning experience. It has insited an interest in me to learn more. But as luck would have it, I am too old. Thank you for your gift of this video.
I prefer the better known version. Some works of art are just simple, and that's that - that's their reality. One of the most notable things about the piece is how simple and direct it is, and yet so beautiful, especially when it finally breaks away from the A section to the B. I'm an amateur musician, but a real writer. If you edit a text into a very simple, clear style, you have to hold your nerve and go with it. If you want to do complex things, do them in another text, don't try to add complexity back in or it will look stuck on, false - and that's what the "new" version sounds like to me. A very beautiful tune, whose composer is a bit embarrassed and trying to hide it by sticking complication on. To give one example, the masking of the "clumsy" transition loses the energy of surprise. By the way, I'm relieved to hear he was ugly and mad - I knew we had something in common ...
I think you brought up a very interesting point of view and I agree with you. Your comment was very well put. Simplicity does not imply inferiority. In fact some works of art are superior and profound due to their simplicity. Sometimes attempts to make a simple music piece complex kinda ruin the art -like the second version of the piece. I don't really like Fur Elise (the first version) ,partly because I often had to play the piece when I was a kid just learning the piano, but I prefer that version to the second "more professional" version. Perhaps Beethoven realized this too, hence he never published the second version.
Thank you. Such an interesting observation! There are aspects to the second version that I admire - I find some of the reworking of musical ideas more elegant than the first. However, there is definitely some truth in what you say - that the core simplicity is compromised. I think Beethoven knew there was an issue, which is why he made the decision not to publish it.
I do agree ,the original is more common, well known and most played .I tried to learn it when I was taking lessons ,but didn't practice enough .Then my mum sold the 🎹. Both versions are beautiful 😍, thanks for the insights .
@@themusicprofessorhe knew most people love familiarities, common things, normal boring tedious stuffs, just anything that is predictable, easy to understand, sounds pretty safe and all, so he published it the normal way. I believe he loves this version so much more because this one contains his frustration, complicated emotions, the turmoils of life, and he was mad enough to pour it into sound ❤
The piece is so easy to play (mostly) that I always imagined he composed it to be played by a young girl he knew, named Elise, who was just learning to play piano!
@@animerlon @purple0hairstreak and @Beatlefan67 -- so glad I was never the only one with this impression. @animerion -- Welcome to the group! And @themusicprofessor himself -- glad you got a kick out of the theory! Maybe you should write a fictional history of music with some real history replaced by "too good not to be true" stories. Hell, every biography written for children that I ever read had made-up dialog, at the very least!
Great explanation! I am a beginning piano learner (at 85!), but I still love *_Für Elise_* . After many, many decades, van Beethoven still entrances me.
The 2nd version is much more interesting to me. The original always felt tiresome a bit. I’d think “ok ok Beethoven, you made your point, don’t need to say it again!” The 2nd version doesn’t have that feel for me. It’s fresh throughout.
Many thanks for digging out this second version of "für Elise". As an amateur I need some time to get accustomed to this new version, not because it is more challenging, but because the wellknown version is somehow burnt in. I feel it always hard to appreciate a version which is similar to a wellknow version even it might be an obviously better version. Generally I like these bagatelles very much as they are condensed versions of ideas which might have used in a much more elaborate pieces; similarly to short stories compared to novels.
Fond memories: I kept hearing "Für Elise" out of so many practice rooms that I imagined it must be a technical milestone piano students achieve at some point. However, "Für Elise" never ever featured on my piano homework. Though the assignments I got were increasingly technically demanding, none of them were as catchy of course. Eventually I asked my piano teacher about it to which he said: "We're not going to do it. It's so overused, we're taking a different path."
If "Für Elise" by van Beethoven wasn't so hopelessly overplayed and if I hadn't also been oppressed with this work, I would really like to hear it (the original).
After playing this piece for 25 years, it has morphed into something of my own version that seems to be a perfect blend between the one we know and the 'new' version.
Thank you so much for these beautiful insights into some history and musicology, and for walking us through Beethoven's composition bit by bit. Very useful!
This video was suggested to me after I found a picture of "Prelude and The Last Hope in C and C# Minor" and was attempting to find a way to listen to that abomination of sheet music. As a classical and fine music aficionado, I found interest in alternate versions of classic and baroque music, and appreciate you going out of your way to share your work. Fine job!
Because I am so used to the familiar version, I was doubtful about whether I'd like this one. However, hearing it in its entirety made me realize that this version is, in fact, better and more interesting. Thank you for sharing!
Look it, that was fantastic. Thank you, this was exactly what I needed. I started teaching myself guitar back in 1975 and have been a blues slide rocker ever since. You know how life can be. A few years of bad decisions can make you bitter. Then, a couple years back, I was struck by Beethoven one night in much the same way wild horses are sometimes struck by lightning. Anyway , I have been wrestling control of my thirty year old student violin ever since. This was brilliant, thanks, eh.
This piece was showcased in the Late Dudley Moore’s PBS series “Orchestra.” He remarked to Solti that he hated the piano piece because everybody who played piano played that piece. He remarked “you have to put an enormous amount of expression into that to make it work.” After the modulation, he says there should be sforzando at the beginning of the theme.
I found this out two years ago, when I visited the Beethoven- Haus in Heiligenstadt, and they were selling an Urtext of Für Elise (both versions, including a photocopy of the manuscript of Beethoven). I was falling of my chair when I saw that. Very nice that you present this secret!
I consider the one that we all know and play as the first draft. I consider the version that you played today as the second draft. I understand why he did not want to publish either one as neither would be considered a final draft in his mind most likely. I adore this second draft better than the one we know so well. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
This is great. I actually like the 2nd version better. With the help of your explanation, I feel like I understand why he felt the song wasn't finished in 1810.
I learned the other piece decades ago... This new version is amazingly more appealing to my ears! It is also more pleasurable to play. Thank you so much for sharing this unknown version. I love it!
@@janbrandonjrusually when people say "stand the test of time" that is a metaphorical phrase meaning it's still popular or widely known. The whole reason there is a video about this piece is because it is so much (relative to the others in this context) not that.
Amazing the uniqueness of this composition. This is a wonderful history lesson. When I was young I had a piano teacher who commonly would share snippets of the history of pieces of music and the composers. Mrs. Egan was first violin for the Spokane Philharmonic Orchestra and her husband taught violin and was also on the same orchestra. One of her students made it to the Van Cliburn competition.
Why not both? 😁 As a classic music listener, I like both equally. The 1822 version for its "freshness" and "flourishes", the Terese version for its familiarity and simplicity.
Im not a musician, I grew up with a pianist girl that lived one floor above me, and she was playing classical piano. One of her plays was that for Alice , I had a crush on her.. but she never gave me a second look..😢 but that melody stuck with me for over 50 years as my first love.. Good job explaining it brother!!
There is something really appealing about the simplicity of the original. This is lost in the second version due to the "improvements" BTW - a great video. Loved it.
Unless my memory fails me, I had an Alfred Brendel version of the Bagatelles and don't recall this version of Fur Elise on the CD. REALLY excellent analysis and its the first time I hear this version. Thank you for this.
I’m so glad you played the “revised” version in it’s entirety. So beautifully haunting. When i He shifted to the brooding sequence one can almost see his furrowed brow, perhaps thinking momentarily of love lost but then rising out of his melancholy with hope. Wonderfully presented. Thank you.
Fascinating discussion about the 2 versions. I've just managed to get my 78yr old fingers perfecting the better known version again after several decades of lack of playing the piano. I must say, I do prefer the better known version, but the repetitive nature of it can be a little boring. Now, onto more challenging piano pieces from my past. Cheers!
I find it odd how people complain of repetition in music. Do people not understand frustration? Everytime a verse comes around in a Beethoven piece a second time I can't help but feel changed and frustrated, almost impatient to change, and it makes the breaks that much more pleasing. I hear mockery in both Beethoven and Mozart, almost like it's a personal attack towards a group of people.
You are a marvellous teacher, taking a somewhat recondite topic and making it easy and accessible to all. Thank you! (Oh, and yes, I think the later version is in fact more beautiful as well as more engaging)
This kind of thing is gold. Thank you so much. One of the many things I love about Beethoven's work is that it often sounds as though it's been tossed off with contemptuous ease (as this does), belying the fact that we know it mostly wasn't.
Absolutely thrilled the TH-cam algorithm presented you in my feed. Loved it. Fascinating backstory, great analysis, superb playing, and plenty of humour (hi doggy!). Thanks so much.
I can see that the original sketch would be boring to a master of the trade, player or composer. I have almost no musical training, but while I strongly appreciate two and a half of his later changes, the original simplicity strikes me as a huge reason for its enduring popularity. So yes, the original shift to the first episode is clumsy, so I appreciate the first two bars of his newer transition - but the third bar is jarring, more so then the original sudden shift. Moving the crescendo to almost the end is astonishingly beautiful - both because it fits there, and because the transition from episode C back immediately to A sounds …perfect. My “and a half” is because I agree the more complex change to the repetitive rondeau theme is interesting - but it also breaks the simplicity that makes the original an enduring classic. I happen to find the delay added to the left hand in places to be almost indistinguishable from the original. Thanks for a fascinating detailed look at the music and the composer!!
My guess is that he wrote something similar to this in the original as well, but it was re-edited to something that Therese thought was better/could be played easier for publication. Such as removing triplets and so on. It's just too simple compared to everything else he composed, and Beethoven simply never dumbed-down anything he wrote like that.
I enjoyed this very much. Thank you. While it is very moot to say which version is better, I think that the better known version has many more positive aspects than most people think. For instance, the careful use of the specific notes of those accompanying arpeggios in the left hand are SO important and beautiful. I wouldn’t blame Beethoven for “spicing it up” afterwards, as he did have a very “wild” musical style. But the well known version has a beauty of its own, while still bearing the stamp of its composer. Thanks again for your wonderful performance and presentation.
Listening to the new version, part of me kept going "wait what??" whenever it deviated from the original 😂 At this point, I prefer the one I'm used to, but I'm not sure if that's just familiarity bias or something inherent to the details of the composition. Fascinating analysis regardless!
This is my first visit to your channel, and I'll be back. I really like the way you present the sheet music with color annotations accompanying the music in real time. I can only look at individual notes but can not yet read the music to 'hear' a melody. This is a great technique to help me to read music in real time. Thank you.
Really loved the 1820 version. This video appeared randomly in my TH-cam feed - glad I clicked on it and played it. Do like listening to Beethoven now and then so was intrigued by the title. Top video.
Wow! I had no idea the sketch used a more Tempest-like accompaniment. That is incredibly interesting, and I love the 3rd movement of the Tempest sonata quite a lot. That B-section transition almost feels like a false setup for the section to be in F-minor. Overall, it feels more like the adventurous Beethoven peeking through, the one who insists on some sort of variation even in a repeated passage.
Yes - there is a more F minor implication there, absolutely. A more adventurous Beethoven, and a more refined Beethoven, but I can see why the simplicity of the original version is more appealing to some listeners.
Thank you for this well-done explanation and rendering of Beethoven's intended version. His bass clef changes make it even more heartwarming. His evident dislike of the emotive repetition at the beginning of each "verse" and the inclusion of the demisemiquavers break up the intensity in a way that I think is unfortunate. So, personally, I like some of his changes and not others.
Hi there, thank you for the enjoyment and the explanations! It was very enjoyable...and I learned a lot more about the composer and his background. I am not a musician myself, but I have always enjoyed listening to the differences between the notes and how they perhaps came up with them. Makes me interested in learning more about them overall.
I actually like this 1822 (revised) version more than the popular one now I look at it. The 'displacement' works better. This is the first time I hear the revised one and now I better understand why I unconsciously played the popular one with a slight offset to the first bass note on each bar. It is clear Beethoven may have wanted it to sound that way anyways.
I like your Stravinsky shirt! I'd like to see a version of this for the layman. Just playing a good part of both versions. The well-known version is a pretty tune. Maybe it's not enough for the great composer, but people like it. I wonder how it compares to the other version.
That was fascinating! Für Elise, along with Moonlight Sonata, have always been my favorite music pieces. There are elements of the 2nd version I really like, but I've always liked the "mood" of the 1st one.
Very interesting. I find that the later version feels a bit inconsistent. He just revisited an older piece and made some modifications. While I think those modifications are nice on their own, they feel like they are written by a different composer. I agree that the transition into the first episode is really nice, but I don't think it fits in this piece. It just had such a different style. I love bar 32 though. I'll consider using this in the future when playing this piece.
I have known, or not really known, Fur Elise for most of my 75 years. I was taught that it was an etude written for his student who was a relative of one of the Hapsburg family. I am posting this early, before the end of your post because I am rather afraid of a version that I don't know
Amazing. I think I 'grew out of' the first version in my teens and avoided it ever since, but this later version definitely looks worth exploring. Thank you.
Fascinating! Such an interesting excursion into the technicalities of this apparently simple piece, that nowadays seems largely to be relegated to practicing the piano. Sadly, at school, I was never taught much about notation or how to analyse the changing patterns in music - 😮💨
Very interesting presentation. As for Bethiven's professionalisation of the original... As usually in movies sequels are much worse. Thanks professor. Good to learn new things.
It would be interesting to do such an episode about the scherzo of Schubert's 8th symphony, which is otherwise known as the fractional third movement of his unfinished symphony.
I prefer the 2nd version because I like floating off the beat. Find myself doing this with other songs. I also enjoy things like limericks, word plays, and nicknames. All my pets have multiple names.
I loved the ending in the second version. As you pointed out, it is a more "finished" piece. I guess when you are a genius that you can reject versions that others would gladly accept as one of their best pieces.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this piece. Your researching the history and your knowledge of the written music theory is much appreciated. It has inspired me in my own study of the piano. On a different note l read Beethovens life story if I’m correct. His father’s alcoholism and Beethoven playing the music for his father when his father was drunk. I don’t know if this is correct. Beethovens impressionable tender years. How he overcame to express himself through his music is to me an inspiration in life’s challenges. One thing l am admire about Beethoven he was an overcomer. Life was tough for him. He expressed himself through his music was his expression to the world. He left a beautiful legacy to future pianists which l treasure. I prefer the original composition. Thank you for bringing this piece to my attention.
I have always wanted to ask an expert why we don’t pronounce the last e in Elise. At one point you said Therese pronouncing the final e. I know we speak English here, but we are also saying für not for and Elise without the ze sound at the end sounds like an amputation. Wonderful presentation!
This was very interesting. You have a gift for explaining technical concepts in a way that amateurs like me can understand. The visual displays help a lot with this too, and I know that it takes work to put those in, so thank you!
As a very novice piano player that has heard and even played bits of the original theme, I really like how this version re-imagines the piece, but also how my expectations knowing "the original" tune it is surprised by it's "new-ness", well, if I can be so bold to say 1822 vs. 1810... one last remark... I think, based on that sketch of him, that if Beethoven would have got his hair trimmed a bit more often, he might have had better luck with sweet Miss Therese... or Elise... well, either one. 🎶🎵
What would Beethoven have thought about the fact that this is blasted through loudspeakers on every garbage truck in Taiwan to tell people that the truck is arriving soon? 😊
hard to read all the comments here, but I think a lot of now-older people from the US were introduced to this piece by Vince Guaraldi in the soundtrack of the 1960s Charlie Brown Christmas animated television show - the character Schroeder played it on his piano
I like the second version of Fur Elise. It really shows his growth as a Composer. It feels more authentic, the composition that he would like us to have.
I've been a piano-teacher for 50 years and I'm really surprised to hear this new version of a song I teached for a million times (pupils wanted so). I'm not the man who understand english at his best but your language reached me. Thanks for that. The description of the changes was very easy to understand with the notes. I'm looking forward to discover more videos of your that are fun for beginners and professionals as well. Best regards E r i k
Amazing channel, quality content! I truly appreciate and enjoy the historical approach and insight you provide on your videos about these musical master pieces on top of the theory analysis while providing a new understanding and shedding a new light on these compositions, absolutely brilliant! You won me over and I just subscribed to your channel now!
My fav' piano piece. I find this new piece difficult to listen to. But I've now listened to it played back at 1.5 x speed, and sounds so much better. Thank you Prof'.
This version deeply resonates with me… it’s so interesting, at one part it sounds like controlled chaos but in a split second it’s back to normal! Fascinating…
Absolutely fascinating, thank you Prof. for sharing your insights. I wonder how the evolution of the piano played into the piece in its first (the lost manuscript), second (LvB "other version"), and third (the 1860s publisher)? There were noticeably fewer Ped & dynamics indications from Beethoven who was pretty strict about 'sticking to the script' with his students - "if it's not exactly me it must be better!" Perhaps LvB may have held back if he felt there was more (or less) required - he hadn't settled - or his musings over the piece was a springboard for other works, e.g., Tempest. She must have been in his thoughts quite a bit over the years. The psychology of it is fascinating (it's almost an ear worm), simultaneously existing as musical 'venting' via the rhythmic 'da da da dah', as an anagram (or secret love note) of the ESE, and the music itself ... Ludwig really was a tortured soul. It must be challenging to approach the piece anew and free from the 'bias' of what we've lived with since the 1860s. You've really got me thinking & I'll be turning over this for many months to come ... and you've made my day. Many thanks!
What an absolute delight to find this in my recommendations!! I had no idea about the second piece (nor the backstory tbh)... very interesting! Gorgeous piece.
Beethoven was playing jazz like passages with syncopated rhythms long before jazz even existed. He really experimented a lot and this version is very jazzy like.
Bach was doing this in 1723 see prelude in c major
Listen to Bach Art of the Fugue Contrapunctus 2
@@petermcmurray2807 to which prelude in c major do you refer? To the wtc 1 or 2 or another prelude?
Don't forget Beethoven's "Boogie Woogie" variation in the "Arietta" movement of the Piano Sonata No. 32, There Beethoven is WAY ahead of his time!
@@L1102 I specified 1723 that is the first one. By the way that was for harpsichord or organ as the piano had not been invented at that point.
It starts at 20:13 for those just looking for the second version. I am not sure which I like better, but they are both amazing!
Everything Beethoven composed is amazing😊
You da GOAT!
Legend
To me, the accelerated triplets feel a little out of place.. not sure if it's because I"m so used to the classic version,.. I think if there was more of it in triplets the flow would have felt smoother? The classic version is very smooth flowing and I find the "new" one a little jarring
Thanks ... the professor does like to talk.
The second version is really imteresting in how it shows how a) it's a snapshot of Beethovens different style at 1822, and b) how Beethoven would probably like to improvise. An extra transition here, some juxtaposition of the different sections there. It's honestly inspiring and makes me want to learn the two versions, to mishmash between them!! There's a lot to love about the second version!
I agree. It's inspiring and instructive to see him tinkering around with it.
@@themusicprofessor I hate to do this to you, but my ears cringe when you pronounce the word "für." And I hate to use this as a quick guide, but try saying "Führer" and drop the final "er," and you'll be close enough. And the "r" in "für" is only about half-pronounced, from an English perspective.
@@grizzlygrizzleI know this comment wasn’t intended for me, but thankyou!! I never really realized how wrong I was pronouncing it.
@@grizzlygrizzle
Greetings! I'm German, and frankly I found his pronounciation of the 'ü' in 'Für' quite good.
Many English native speakers usually have some problems with the correct pronounciation of the German diphthongs.
But not him obviously.
So Kudos to him from me for that.
Instead I would have a minor quibble about the name, Elise.
It's actually a French shorter version of 'Elisabeth', and he pronounces it in the ( correct of course ! ) French way, muting the 'e' at the end, whereas most Germans don't pronounce it in the French way, but use a German dialect for it instead, where the 'e' is not muted.
I assume Beethoven himself might have pronounced the name in the German way too, because otherwise he probably would have called the piece completely in French 'Pour Elise' ....
Of course that's only a speculation of mine, but I guess quite a reasonable one.
It's difficult to describe, how it sounds in German, but I would say it sounds quite similar to how a strictly-Oxford- English-speaking person would pronounce the 'e' in the middle of 'her' for instance.
It may sound not exactly the same, but quite similar.
Actually it is difficult to find a better example, since there is no exact sound equivalent in English to this German end-'e'.
@@gunterangel What region of Germany are you from?
It's so ironic that the version that Beethoven wanted to publish is virtually unknown, while the version he apparently didn't care much for went viral. There's probably a lesson there for us all.
It's that you can never really know people's likes and dislikes regardless how much you know about anything, so you're better off just living life and doing whatever instead of trying to predict outcomes.
Another interesting fact - Shook Ones Part. 2 by Mobb Deep almost got deleted from the hard drive because Havoc didn't think it was any good, but Mobb Deep thought it sounded fire and demanded to use it. Now it's one of the most known and influential instrumentals in hiphop history.
its probably cuz the version that has gone viral is easier to play, so people play it more leading to it going viral!
Less is more I guess
It's why pop music is literally so popular. It's well known that the more complex a piece is it often leads to being less listenable for many people.
The published version is more clumsy sounding. The better version won out.
Beethoven is my favorite composer. I have a collection of all of his works. I learned to speak German and traveled all the way to Vienna, from America to put flowers on his grave. My little girl has been raised on classical music and especially Beethoven. To me he is the greatest of all the composers and his music is on a higher level to all others. It’s his passion, soul and emotion that he used in his music that makes him special. He was the first Rock star.
Schroeder?
I agree. There is so much elegance and emotion in his pieces.
Fully agree. I started my classical journey with the usual suspects; Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach, Handel and I loved them all - but it was Beethoven who really got me hooked.
@@calumjones
🤣👍
But You in America have also at least one region where MUSIC is at home: Minneapolis were Prince Rogers Nelson did comparable things as Ludwig van Beethoven in Vienna. I also visited the grave of Beethoven in Vienna, but Minneapolis, especially Paisley Park is still on my long term agenda to visit to. 🙏 🎹🎵
When I was going to high school in the early 90s my music teacher was an 85-year-old man who is a huge Beethoven fan. This is the version that he taught us.
i got this version after learning the original from my piano teacher. tbh i had forgotten about it until this vid
I always noted that the more commonly known version, at least in my copy said "attributed to.." in the margin. It always seemed like something of a reduced simpler version of something he would write. Such was also common back then in writing and music, that is, making "children's versions" of adult stories or music. We also see this with Mozart's famous variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman", with the versions that we use for children's songs being vastly simplified due to him just writing technically complex music that most people had a hard time playing. Only the first, most simple variation would most people be able to sing or play at home. The other 11 in the set are indeed his work. Frustratingly so. Lol. And, yes, buried in the middle is the minor one you know must have existed.
Why this is also relevant is that in the second to last variation ( marked Adagio ) you hear figures that must have been known to Beethoven and are very similar to ones he used in this piece. A nice nod to a previous master.
You're a lucky guy!
When your teacher was a kid there old people who were alive when Beethoven was old.
I had no idea the other version existed. Thank you for exposing me to this little gem by the great master.
Me neither! Must find the music and give it a go...and grow an extra finger or two!!.. Lovely..
I love this. Its like a snapshop into Beethoven's compositional process. Like hearing a 'first draft' before hearing the 'final version'
Yeah, that's sort of how it struck me too... It's not a bad version but compared to the 'final cut' its inferior imho.
This is my plebian thoughts on this. More elegant than I can put it!
Honestly, the popular version is better IMO. It actually feels somewhat more refined, even though it's an earlier version. The 2nd version feels a bit too complex while not being complex enough at the same time (like, it adds more complexity just for the sake of adding complexity). To me, the simplicity of the popular version just works better. And IMO the popular version also has a better flow. The transition to the F major section was IMO unnecessary and didn't really help with the flow that much. Yeah, the popular version is also somewhat clumsy with its transition, but I think it still works just fine (and as I said, the transition in the 2nd version doesn't really help with the flow, so I prefer the simpler transition, if you can even call it a transition). I'm also not a huge fan of the added embellishments in the main theme.
But maybe my ears are biased because the popular version is so familiar...
Thank you. But yes, never underestimate the immense power of familiarity!
Honestly, the 1822 version is more nuanced and less tedious.
I agree. Mostly I feel here that the swirl of it, the spirit is missing in this one a bit. It is a hard piece to master technically, but doing the popular version right is harder because it focusses more on elegance and emotion.
@@thomaswateren3967 I think they both have a certain elegance and naivety syncretised with nostalgic melancholia. However, I am not sure about the 'missing spirit ' part. What intrigues me about the second version is the search for new musical ideas; in my opinion, the exploration in the second version is more for the composer than the emotion that triggered the composition. It feels like the master senses an opening for further expression but is not fully satisfied with his finding.
I think I agree for the most part. Some of the new additions sound nice, but others sound more like someone playing the original tune and getting frustrated or bored, so they just ad-libbed to see if anyone would notice!
I learned to play it competently when I was seven. No joke! It was a show piece for me I’d drag out for guests, “Fur Elise,” The slow movement of “Moonlight Sonata,” and Bach’s “Ave Maria.” I never knew of a “Second Fur Elise!” And now for the rest of the story (an homage to Paul Harvey - “Good Day!”). I quit piano lessons when I was thirteen after I took up playing the banjo. Again, no joke! I’m 66 now, I cannot play the piano or decently read music, but I play Fur Elise by ear from memory on a mandolin, five sting banjo, and sometimes, the guitar. Banjos make for good classical music if you can toss out the stereotypes. They can have a harpsichord essence about them. 😮
Interesting. You should record some of your "classical banjo" and upload for us. Would be fascinating to listen to.
Bela Fleck is an absolute master at banjo. Anyone who sneers at that instrument should listen to him, with of without the Flecktones.
I am not a music student. My granddaughter played this when she was eight. I just .thought Id listen to your video. I was so impressed with the historical and fairly persoal account of Fur Elise. You were so interesting and have a talent for communicating information as well as your piano skills. I love music, but do not understand its dynamics, and you just gave me a look into another world talking about the process of composition and math, and rhythm. Thank you ! I thoroughly enjoyed this. I am forwarding this video to my granddaughter. She is 16 and was just recently awarded a full musical scholarship in piano at Websrer University, St Louis. Mo. She's been playing since she was 2 1/2 and has never had formal piano lessons, and has delighted us with her dedication and love of the instrument. I'm sure she will enjoy yoyr video. I'm going to watch more.
Good grief! How wonderful to have such a talent. I’ve never learned to play anything and I’m so envious of people who can .
I'm similarly musically inclined & agree with everything you said about this video, so thanks muchly for saving me from having to say it. 😄👍
This has been so enjoyable. I actually understand what you’re saying, and I have no musical talent. Listening to you I believe I could learn to understand and play. I had lessons when I was a young, but there was never any rhyme or reason to why I was doing things. In those days you just learned that your through memorization. The way you addressed this piece needed more like an learning experience. It has insited an interest in me to learn more. But as luck would have it, I am too old. Thank you for your gift of this video.
@@pfarrell3626 You're never too old to try new things. Go ahead, give it a go. 😃
The triplet variant of the melody after 21:31 is SO beautiful.
I prefer the better known version. Some works of art are just simple, and that's that - that's their reality. One of the most notable things about the piece is how simple and direct it is, and yet so beautiful, especially when it finally breaks away from the A section to the B. I'm an amateur musician, but a real writer. If you edit a text into a very simple, clear style, you have to hold your nerve and go with it. If you want to do complex things, do them in another text, don't try to add complexity back in or it will look stuck on, false - and that's what the "new" version sounds like to me. A very beautiful tune, whose composer is a bit embarrassed and trying to hide it by sticking complication on. To give one example, the masking of the "clumsy" transition loses the energy of surprise. By the way, I'm relieved to hear he was ugly and mad - I knew we had something in common ...
I think you brought up a very interesting point of view and I agree with you. Your comment was very well put. Simplicity does not imply inferiority. In fact some works of art are superior and profound due to their simplicity. Sometimes attempts to make a simple music piece complex kinda ruin the art -like the second version of the piece. I don't really like Fur Elise (the first version) ,partly because I often had to play the piece when I was a kid just learning the piano, but I prefer that version to the second "more professional" version. Perhaps Beethoven realized this too, hence he never published the second version.
Thank you. Such an interesting observation! There are aspects to the second version that I admire - I find some of the reworking of musical ideas more elegant than the first. However, there is definitely some truth in what you say - that the core simplicity is compromised. I think Beethoven knew there was an issue, which is why he made the decision not to publish it.
I do agree ,the original is more common, well known and most played .I tried to learn it when I was taking lessons ,but didn't practice enough .Then my mum sold the 🎹. Both versions are beautiful 😍, thanks for the insights .
I like Dr K’s transition to Boogie Woogie…😂
@@themusicprofessorhe knew most people love familiarities, common things, normal boring tedious stuffs, just anything that is predictable, easy to understand, sounds pretty safe and all, so he published it the normal way.
I believe he loves this version so much more because this one contains his frustration, complicated emotions, the turmoils of life, and he was mad enough to pour it into sound ❤
love this guy. No idea what he's talking about, but he seems very friendly and passionate
love your honesty
😂😂😂
The piece is so easy to play (mostly) that I always imagined he composed it to be played by a young girl he knew, named Elise, who was just learning to play piano!
Same!!!
Ditto!
I think i like this idea better than for a love interest that spurned him. Gonna think this from now on. Thanks muchly for the thought. 👍
@@animerlon @purple0hairstreak and @Beatlefan67 -- so glad I was never the only one with this impression. @animerion -- Welcome to the group! And @themusicprofessor himself -- glad you got a kick out of the theory! Maybe you should write a fictional history of music with some real history replaced by "too good not to be true" stories. Hell, every biography written for children that I ever read had made-up dialog, at the very least!
@@dgdg20001 Thanks muchly for the welcome. 🤗 💜☮️ From 🇨🇦
Great explanation! I am a beginning piano learner (at 85!), but I still love *_Für Elise_* . After many, many decades, van Beethoven still entrances me.
Good luck!
I like some of the elements of the second version, but most of the elements of the popular version. Thanks for walking through both for us!
I must admit this is lovely. Normally, I would protest such a change to something I've known my whole life. This is wonderful.
Totally agree...it is super!
I'm not sure if the second one is better, perhaps it is its own animal. Parts of it sound like Mozart and that's not necessarily better.
I honestly like the flow of the first version. The second one sounds like an academic exercise but not like an actual song you want to hear.
I love it. Made me smile.
The 2nd version is much more interesting to me. The original always felt tiresome a bit. I’d think “ok ok Beethoven, you made your point, don’t need to say it again!” The 2nd version doesn’t have that feel for me. It’s fresh throughout.
Many thanks for digging out this second version of "für Elise". As an amateur I need some time to get accustomed to this new version, not because it is more challenging, but because the wellknown version is somehow burnt in. I feel it always hard to appreciate a version which is similar to a wellknow version even it might be an obviously better version. Generally I like these bagatelles very much as they are condensed versions of ideas which might have used in a much more elaborate pieces; similarly to short stories compared to novels.
Exactly!
Fond memories: I kept hearing "Für Elise" out of so many practice rooms that I imagined it must be a technical milestone piano students achieve at some point. However, "Für Elise" never ever featured on my piano homework. Though the assignments I got were increasingly technically demanding, none of them were as catchy of course. Eventually I asked my piano teacher about it to which he said: "We're not going to do it. It's so overused, we're taking a different path."
A teacher should adapt to the wishes of their student sometimes. It's more fun to learn something you actually like to play, and it's easier too.
If "Für Elise" by van Beethoven wasn't so hopelessly overplayed and if I hadn't also been oppressed with this work, I would really like to hear it (the original).
After playing this piece for 25 years, it has morphed into something of my own version that seems to be a perfect blend between the one we know and the 'new' version.
Thank you so much for these beautiful insights into some history and musicology, and for walking us through Beethoven's composition bit by bit. Very useful!
This later version almost sounds to me like a sad remembrance of and farewell to that potential prior love interest. It's so beautiful!
This video was suggested to me after I found a picture of "Prelude and The Last Hope in C and C# Minor" and was attempting to find a way to listen to that abomination of sheet music. As a classical and fine music aficionado, I found interest in alternate versions of classic and baroque music, and appreciate you going out of your way to share your work. Fine job!
Thank you!
Because I am so used to the familiar version, I was doubtful about whether I'd like this one. However, hearing it in its entirety made me realize that this version is, in fact, better and more interesting. Thank you for sharing!
Look it, that was fantastic. Thank you, this was exactly what I needed. I started teaching myself guitar back in 1975 and have been a blues slide rocker ever since. You know how life can be. A few years of bad decisions can make you bitter. Then, a couple years back, I was struck by Beethoven one night in much the same way wild horses are sometimes struck by lightning. Anyway , I have been wrestling control of my thirty year old student violin ever since.
This was brilliant, thanks, eh.
Im so glad to find this channel! This is a purely delightful analysis of "for Elise." What a delightful teacher! Thank you!
Thank you so much!
I so agree, just found and subbed. Great teacher and cute doggo, what a combo.
This piece was showcased in the Late Dudley Moore’s PBS series “Orchestra.” He remarked to Solti that he hated the piano piece because everybody who played piano played that piece. He remarked “you have to put an enormous amount of expression into that to make it work.” After the modulation, he says there should be sforzando at the beginning of the theme.
I found this out two years ago, when I visited the Beethoven- Haus in Heiligenstadt, and they were selling an Urtext of Für Elise (both versions, including a photocopy of the manuscript of Beethoven). I was falling of my chair when I saw that. Very nice that you present this secret!
This is really great as a study of how great composers adapted, edited, and refined their own work!!
I consider the one that we all know and play as the first draft. I consider the version that you played today as the second draft. I understand why he did not want to publish either one as neither would be considered a final draft in his mind most likely. I adore this second draft better than the one we know so well. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
This is great. I actually like the 2nd version better. With the help of your explanation, I feel like I understand why he felt the song wasn't finished in 1810.
I learned the other piece decades ago... This new version is amazingly more appealing to my ears! It is also more pleasurable to play. Thank you so much for sharing this unknown version. I love it!
I think the simpler version is best - that's why it has stood the test of time. Doesn't have to be complicated to be great
so this piece did not stood the test of time?
how do you explain this video then
14 1
@@janbrandonjrusually when people say "stand the test of time" that is a metaphorical phrase meaning it's still popular or widely known. The whole reason there is a video about this piece is because it is so much (relative to the others in this context) not that.
The comparison with chopin is spot on. The whole thing sounds a bit like a nocturne.
Amazing the uniqueness of this composition. This is a wonderful history lesson. When I was young I had a piano teacher who commonly would share snippets of the history of pieces of music and the composers. Mrs. Egan was first violin for the Spokane Philharmonic Orchestra and her husband taught violin and was also on the same orchestra. One of her students made it to the Van Cliburn competition.
Why not both? 😁
As a classic music listener, I like both equally. The 1822 version for its "freshness" and "flourishes", the Terese version for its familiarity and simplicity.
Im not a musician,
I grew up with a pianist girl that lived one floor above me, and she was playing classical piano.
One of her plays was that for Alice ,
I had a crush on her.. but she never gave me a second look..😢 but that melody stuck with me for over 50 years as my first love..
Good job explaining it brother!!
I love the published version but do think the unpublished version is more interesting. Thank you so much for showing this to us. 😊
Thanks for that breakdown. Those extra little flares in the main melody are very bluesy sounding
There is something really appealing about the simplicity of the original. This is lost in the second version due to the "improvements"
BTW - a great video. Loved it.
LOVE the revised version so much more. Thank you for sharing this with us! I had no idea :)
Unless my memory fails me, I had an Alfred Brendel version of the Bagatelles and don't recall this version of Fur Elise on the CD. REALLY excellent analysis and its the first time I hear this version. Thank you for this.
I’m so glad you played the “revised” version in it’s entirety. So beautifully haunting. When i
He shifted to the brooding sequence one can almost see his furrowed brow, perhaps thinking momentarily of love lost but then rising out of his melancholy with hope. Wonderfully presented. Thank you.
Oh I love that version way more than the "normal" one. It does have touches of Chopin in it.
Glad you teach with your fur baby assistant. Keeps me smiling through your whole lesson. Thank you.
Fascinating discussion about the 2 versions. I've just managed to get my 78yr old fingers perfecting the better known version again after several decades of lack of playing the piano. I must say, I do prefer the better known version, but the repetitive nature of it can be a little boring. Now, onto more challenging piano pieces from my past. Cheers!
Sounds exactly where I am. I’m working on it after not playing the piano for 40+ years!
I find it odd how people complain of repetition in music. Do people not understand frustration? Everytime a verse comes around in a Beethoven piece a second time I can't help but feel changed and frustrated, almost impatient to change, and it makes the breaks that much more pleasing. I hear mockery in both Beethoven and Mozart, almost like it's a personal attack towards a group of people.
Was für ein gebildeter Mensch und ausgewiesener Experte.
Wunderbar
Germans love accomplishment and aren't afraid to say it.
You are a marvellous teacher, taking a somewhat recondite topic and making it easy and accessible to all. Thank you! (Oh, and yes, I think the later version is in fact more beautiful as well as more engaging)
Definitely think the second version is better. It’s gorgeous!
This kind of thing is gold. Thank you so much. One of the many things I love about Beethoven's work is that it often sounds as though it's been tossed off with contemptuous ease (as this does), belying the fact that we know it mostly wasn't.
Absolutely thrilled the TH-cam algorithm presented you in my feed.
Loved it. Fascinating backstory, great analysis, superb playing, and plenty of humour (hi doggy!).
Thanks so much.
I can see that the original sketch would be boring to a master of the trade, player or composer. I have almost no musical training, but while I strongly appreciate two and a half of his later changes, the original simplicity strikes me as a huge reason for its enduring popularity. So yes, the original shift to the first episode is clumsy, so I appreciate the first two bars of his newer transition - but the third bar is jarring, more so then the original sudden shift. Moving the crescendo to almost the end is astonishingly beautiful - both because it fits there, and because the transition from episode C back immediately to A sounds …perfect. My “and a half” is because I agree the more complex change to the repetitive rondeau theme is interesting - but it also breaks the simplicity that makes the original an enduring classic. I happen to find the delay added to the left hand in places to be almost indistinguishable from the original. Thanks for a fascinating detailed look at the music and the composer!!
My guess is that he wrote something similar to this in the original as well, but it was re-edited to something that Therese thought was better/could be played easier for publication. Such as removing triplets and so on. It's just too simple compared to everything else he composed, and Beethoven simply never dumbed-down anything he wrote like that.
There is something beautiful about an articulate explanation given with great knowledge and competance, and this video is beautiful.
I enjoyed this very much. Thank you. While it is very moot to say which version is better, I think that the better known version has many more positive aspects than most people think. For instance, the careful use of the specific notes of those accompanying arpeggios in the left hand are SO important and beautiful. I wouldn’t blame Beethoven for “spicing it up” afterwards, as he did have a very “wild” musical style. But the well known version has a beauty of its own, while still bearing the stamp of its composer. Thanks again for your wonderful performance and presentation.
Thank you for your encouragement!
Listening to the new version, part of me kept going "wait what??" whenever it deviated from the original 😂 At this point, I prefer the one I'm used to, but I'm not sure if that's just familiarity bias or something inherent to the details of the composition. Fascinating analysis regardless!
This is my first visit to your channel, and I'll be back. I really like the way you present the sheet music with color annotations accompanying the music in real time. I can only look at individual notes but can not yet read the music to 'hear' a melody. This is a great technique to help me to read music in real time. Thank you.
Really loved the 1820 version. This video appeared randomly in my TH-cam feed - glad I clicked on it and played it. Do like listening to Beethoven now and then so was intrigued by the title. Top video.
Nice interesting video , enjoyed it .I wasnt aware of the second version ...and great playing
Wow! I had no idea the sketch used a more Tempest-like accompaniment. That is incredibly interesting, and I love the 3rd movement of the Tempest sonata quite a lot.
That B-section transition almost feels like a false setup for the section to be in F-minor.
Overall, it feels more like the adventurous Beethoven peeking through, the one who insists on some sort of variation even in a repeated passage.
Yes - there is a more F minor implication there, absolutely. A more adventurous Beethoven, and a more refined Beethoven, but I can see why the simplicity of the original version is more appealing to some listeners.
Thank you for this well-done explanation and rendering of Beethoven's intended version. His bass clef changes make it even more heartwarming. His evident dislike of the emotive repetition at the beginning of each "verse" and the inclusion of the demisemiquavers break up the intensity in a way that I think is unfortunate. So, personally, I like some of his changes and not others.
Second version? Who knew? SO much better! Love it! Thanks!
Hi there, thank you for the enjoyment and the explanations! It was very enjoyable...and I learned a lot more about the composer and his background. I am not a musician myself, but I have always enjoyed listening to the differences between the notes and how they perhaps came up with them. Makes me interested in learning more about them overall.
I actually like this 1822 (revised) version more than the popular one now I look at it. The 'displacement' works better. This is the first time I hear the revised one and now I better understand why I unconsciously played the popular one with a slight offset to the first bass note on each bar. It is clear Beethoven may have wanted it to sound that way anyways.
I like your Stravinsky shirt! I'd like to see a version of this for the layman. Just playing a good part of both versions. The well-known version is a pretty tune. Maybe it's not enough for the great composer, but people like it. I wonder how it compares to the other version.
That was fascinating! Für Elise, along with Moonlight Sonata, have always been my favorite music pieces. There are elements of the 2nd version I really like, but I've always liked the "mood" of the 1st one.
Thank you for breaking it down in such a way that even a non-musician person like me can appreciate and enjoy.
Very interesting. I find that the later version feels a bit inconsistent. He just revisited an older piece and made some modifications. While I think those modifications are nice on their own, they feel like they are written by a different composer.
I agree that the transition into the first episode is really nice, but I don't think it fits in this piece. It just had such a different style.
I love bar 32 though. I'll consider using this in the future when playing this piece.
Bar 32 is a good bar.
I have known, or not really known, Fur Elise for most of my 75 years. I was taught that it was an etude written for his student who was a relative of one of the Hapsburg family. I am posting this early, before the end of your post because I am rather afraid of a version that I don't know
I always liked Für Elise it´s beautiful but the later version really gives it something special and I love it even more.
Amazing. I think I 'grew out of' the first version in my teens and avoided it ever since, but this later version definitely looks worth exploring. Thank you.
Fascinating! Such an interesting excursion into the technicalities of this apparently simple piece, that nowadays seems largely to be relegated to practicing the piano. Sadly, at school, I was never taught much about notation or how to analyse the changing patterns in music - 😮💨
Very interesting presentation. As for Bethiven's professionalisation of the original... As usually in movies sequels are much worse.
Thanks professor. Good to learn new things.
It would be interesting to do such an episode about the scherzo of Schubert's 8th symphony, which is otherwise known as the fractional third movement of his unfinished symphony.
I only found out about this second version which is so fascinating, thanks.
I prefer the 2nd version because I like floating off the beat. Find myself doing this with other songs. I also enjoy things like limericks, word plays, and nicknames. All my pets have multiple names.
I loved the ending in the second version. As you pointed out, it is a more "finished" piece. I guess when you are a genius that you can reject versions that others would gladly accept as one of their best pieces.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this piece. Your researching the history and your knowledge of the written music theory is much appreciated. It has inspired me in my own study of the piano.
On a different note l read Beethovens life story if I’m correct. His father’s alcoholism and Beethoven playing the music for his father when his father was drunk. I don’t know if this is correct. Beethovens impressionable tender years. How he overcame to express himself through his music is to me an inspiration in life’s challenges. One thing l am admire about Beethoven he was
an overcomer.
Life was tough for him. He expressed himself through his music was his expression to the world. He left a beautiful legacy to future pianists which l treasure.
I prefer the original composition. Thank you for bringing this piece to my attention.
It's true that his father was an alcoholic, as well as exploitative and somewhat abusive. Beethoven had a tough childhood.
I have always wanted to ask an expert why we don’t pronounce the last e in Elise. At one point you said Therese pronouncing the final e. I know we speak English here, but we are also saying für not for and Elise without the ze sound at the end sounds like an amputation. Wonderful presentation!
This was very interesting. You have a gift for explaining technical concepts in a way that amateurs like me can understand. The visual displays help a lot with this too, and I know that it takes work to put those in, so thank you!
Thank you for the encouragement!
Awesome. Thank you for sharing this.
As a very novice piano player that has heard and even played bits of the original theme, I really like how this version re-imagines the piece, but also how my expectations knowing "the original" tune it is surprised by it's "new-ness", well, if I can be so bold to say 1822 vs. 1810... one last remark... I think, based on that sketch of him, that if Beethoven would have got his hair trimmed a bit more often, he might have had better luck with sweet Miss Therese... or Elise... well, either one. 🎶🎵
Wonderful variation and lesson! Thank You!
What would Beethoven have thought about the fact that this is blasted through loudspeakers on every garbage truck in Taiwan to tell people that the truck is arriving soon? 😊
I guess he might have been amused by that. He didn't like the piece much anyway!
Or to announce trucks selling propane gas coming to the neighborhood in some parts of Brazil
hard to read all the comments here, but I think a lot of now-older people from the US were introduced to this piece by Vince Guaraldi in the soundtrack of the 1960s Charlie Brown Christmas animated television show - the character Schroeder played it on his piano
Delighted to hear this-- although the 1822 version sounds like it's trying too hard. I can see why he dropped it.
Thank you for this informative and beautifully illustrated presentation. I wish I had heard this when I was taught to play it 75 years ago!
This is indescribably beautiful. So I will just say Thanks for enriching me.
Thank you! That was a treat!
Love the second version, but much harder to play for an amateur.
I like the second version of Fur Elise. It really shows his growth as a Composer. It feels more authentic, the composition that he would like us to have.
I've been a piano-teacher for 50 years and I'm really surprised to hear this new version of a song I teached for a million times (pupils wanted so).
I'm not the man who understand english at his best but your language reached me. Thanks for that.
The description of the changes was very easy to understand with the notes.
I'm looking forward to discover more videos of your that are fun for beginners and professionals as well.
Best regards
E r i k
Thank you!
Amazing channel, quality content! I truly appreciate and enjoy the historical approach and insight you provide on your videos about these musical master pieces on top of the theory analysis while providing a new understanding and shedding a new light on these compositions, absolutely brilliant! You won me over and I just subscribed to your channel now!
Thank you so much!
Fascinating and very beautiful. Ann from Va.
I find the original "love letter" to be more poignant than the later version, too clever by half. But that's me.
My fav' piano piece. I find this new piece difficult to listen to. But I've now listened to it played back at 1.5 x speed, and sounds so much better. Thank you Prof'.
This version deeply resonates with me… it’s so interesting, at one part it sounds like controlled chaos but in a split second it’s back to normal! Fascinating…
How casual this guy talks about a piece that took me years to play moderately okay is just amazing.
Absolutely fascinating, thank you Prof. for sharing your insights. I wonder how the evolution of the piano played into the piece in its first (the lost manuscript), second (LvB "other version"), and third (the 1860s publisher)? There were noticeably fewer Ped & dynamics indications from Beethoven who was pretty strict about 'sticking to the script' with his students - "if it's not exactly me it must be better!" Perhaps LvB may have held back if he felt there was more (or less) required - he hadn't settled - or his musings over the piece was a springboard for other works, e.g., Tempest. She must have been in his thoughts quite a bit over the years. The psychology of it is fascinating (it's almost an ear worm), simultaneously existing as musical 'venting' via the rhythmic 'da da da dah', as an anagram (or secret love note) of the ESE, and the music itself ... Ludwig really was a tortured soul. It must be challenging to approach the piece anew and free from the 'bias' of what we've lived with since the 1860s. You've really got me thinking & I'll be turning over this for many months to come ... and you've made my day. Many thanks!
Thank you so much for this encouraging and thoughtful comment.
What an absolute delight to find this in my recommendations!! I had no idea about the second piece (nor the backstory tbh)... very interesting! Gorgeous piece.
Man, that accelerate melody and transition part are so late-Beethoven!
Yes, fascinating!