Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Or was it for Therese? Beethoven gave the piece to a woman by that name. But he didn’t write it for her ...

Fur Elise or Bagatelle No. 25 for musicians, is one of the most popular and soothing pieces by music stalwart Ludwig van Beethoven. The piece that was not published during Beethoven’s lifetime and was ...

Although Pachelbel’s Canon, “Eine kleine Nachtmusik,” and the “Ode to Joy” provide stiff competition, Beethoven’s “Für Elise” is probably the most numbingly familiar of classical melodies. Myriad ...

Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared in a different format as part of The Atlantic’s Notes section, retired in 2021. You don’t have to be a classical musical snob to recognize this track—it ...

Für Elise has become one of the most widely recognizable classical pieces in the world. It has appeared in commercials, movies, and even garbage trucks in Taiwan. So how did it get so popular, and is ...

Fire up any online piano lesson or sheet music platform and one of the most popular pieces will inevitably be Beethoven’s Für Elise, the ubiquitous bagatelle that the whole world wants to play. This ...

Those tinkering initial piano notes, as the fingers dart between E and D# are ingrained into every person’s mind. So easy to play, yet so hard to master the following flow up the keyboard that expands ...

Bruce Adolphe's inspiration for this week's Puzzler was not just the style of a particular composer, but an actual piece. Ruth Laredo plays the famous "Fur Elise," by Beethoven.