I guess this song has some very happy memories for me. I took piano for six years when I was growing up (and then later another 1 1/2 years), and this was one of my most successful songs. I only played a portion of it–I only learned later that the piece was longer than I first learned. The name of it is Fur Elise, and on this date in 1810, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote it. It was not published until 1867, and there is a lot of talk about who the mysterious “Elise” was. For the record, I don’t really care. The piece is a wonderful one, and whenever I used to play this for my students, they always got excited. The amazing thing is that he could write this when he was practically deaf. Beethoven is one of those composers who always fascinates me. He was such a tortured individual and truly had a very unhappy life. But he wrote some of the most amazing music of all time.
For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BCr_Elise
http://www.forelise.com/about
http://socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/furelise.htm
http://arikaka.com/about-fur-elise/
http://famousdaily.com/history/beethoven-composes-fur-elise.html
