Right hand
The right hand carries the whole theme. The opening E-D#-E-D#-E sits under fingers 5-4-5-4-5, then B-D-C with 2-4-3. Keep the wrist loose and let the figure ripple rather than hammer: the first edition marks it pianissimo.
Für Elise - Piano Sheet Music (Theme A)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) 1810 A minor 3/8 Intermediate 1:00 Both hands
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Für Elise is probably the most recognised piano tune in the world, and its opening theme is within reach of anyone who has played for a few months. This page gives you that theme - the A section with both of its repeats - exactly as the first edition printed it in 1867, with the left hand and nothing simplified. Press Listen to hear it on the piano under the score, then switch to Practice: the next note lights up in green and the music waits for you. Start with the right hand alone at 50 % tempo, loop the first eight bars, and add the left hand once the E-D# figure feels natural. The letter names of every bar are further down the page.
How to play it
How to play Für Elise on the piano
Left hand
The left hand answers with broken chords - A-E-A for A minor, E-E-G# for E major - three sixteenths and then silence. Use 5-2-1 and lift the hand in the rests; the pedal marks of the original (left out of this score) join the chord to the melody.
Tricky passages
Bars 13 to 15 are where people stumble: the left hand moves up into the treble clef, the right hand leaps to a high E, and both hands trade E and D# back and forth. Loop those bars at 50 % until they feel boring, then put them back in context.
Fingering
Land the A of bar 2 on 1, then play C-E-A with 1-2-3. In bar 3 take B with 4 and E-G#-B with 1-3-4; in bar 4, C with 5, then E with 1 and the E an octave higher with 5 - an octave stretch, so keep the hand open.
Notes
Für Elise piano notes
The right-hand melody of this version, bar by bar, in letter names and in Do Ré Mi. Sharps are written #, flats b; a note held across a bar line is written once.
Melody: E D# E D# E B D C A C E A B E G# B C E E D# E D# E B …
| Bar | Notes | Do Ré Mi |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup | E D# | Mi Ré# |
| 1 | E D# E B D C | Mi Ré# Mi Si Ré Do |
| 2 | A C E A | La Do Mi La |
| 3 | B E G# B | Si Mi Sol# Si |
| 4 | C E E D# | Do Mi Mi Ré# |
| 5 | E D# E B D C | Mi Ré# Mi Si Ré Do |
| 6 | A C E A | La Do Mi La |
| 7 | B E C B | Si Mi Do Si |
| 8 (1st ending) | A | La |
| 9 (2nd ending) | A B C D | La Si Do Ré |
| 10 | E G F E | Mi Sol Fa Mi |
| 11 | D F E D | Ré Fa Mi Ré |
| 12 | C E D C | Do Mi Ré Do |
| 13 | B E E | Si Mi Mi |
| 14 | E E D# | Mi Mi Ré# |
| 15 | E D# E D# | Mi Ré# Mi Ré# |
| 16 | E D# E B D C | Mi Ré# Mi Si Ré Do |
| 17 | A C E A | La Do Mi La |
| 18 | B E G# B | Si Mi Sol# Si |
| 19 | C E E D# | Do Mi Mi Ré# |
| 20 | E D# E B D C | Mi Ré# Mi Si Ré Do |
| 21 | A C E A | La Do Mi La |
| 22 | B E C B | Si Mi Do Si |
| 23 (1st ending) | A B C D | La Si Do Ré |
| 24 (2nd ending) | A | La |
Chords
Chords in Für Elise
The chords this arrangement holds for at least two bars, read from the score with the root in the bass. Each one opens its page: the notes, every inversion and the fingering, playable on a piano.
The piece is in A minor: all the chords of the key
About the piece
About Für Elise
Beethoven wrote the Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59, in 1810 but never published it. It was printed for the first time in 1867 by the musicologist Ludwig Nohl, who read the dedication on the manuscript as "Für Elise am 27 April zur Erinnerung von L. v. Bthvn" - for Elise, on 27 April, in remembrance. That manuscript has since been lost, so Nohl's edition is the closest thing we have to Beethoven's text, and it is the source of this transcription.
Nobody knows for sure who Elise was. The best-known theories point to Therese Malfatti, a pupil Beethoven hoped to marry in 1810 (Nohl may have misread "Therese"), and to the singer Elisabeth Röckel. The piece is a small rondo: the theme you play here comes back three times, separated by a gentle episode in F major and a darker one in A minor over a hammered bass note.
Its fame came long after Beethoven. Over the 20th century it became the classic first "real" piece for piano students, then a music-box tune, a ringtone and, in Taiwan, the melody played by rubbish trucks.
This transcription: First edition: Ludwig Nohl, Neue Briefe Beethovens (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1867), No. 33, pp. 28-29 (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek scan). Transcribed by GOONS Studio from the original work, which is in the public domain.
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In the studio
Practise with your MIDI keyboard, record your take, export MIDI
The full piano studio opens this score with your MIDI keyboard and sustain pedal, records what you play and exports it as a MIDI file. It comes with the GOONS Studio subscription - start with the 7-day free trial, no card required.
Questions
Für Elise on piano: frequently asked
Is Für Elise hard to play on the piano?
The theme on this page is an early-intermediate piece (level 3 of 5 here). The hands rarely play at the same time; what takes work is an even E-D# figure and the jump in bars 13-15. The complete bagatelle is harder: its two middle sections add fast arpeggios, repeated bass notes and a chromatic run.
What are the first notes of Für Elise?
E D# E D# E B D C A in the right hand - in Do Ré Mi, Mi Ré# Mi Ré# Mi Si Ré Do La. The full list, bar by bar, is in the Notes section of this page.
Who was Elise?
Nobody knows for sure. The 1867 first edition reads "Für Elise", but Beethoven's manuscript is lost. Historians have suggested Therese Malfatti, whom Beethoven wanted to marry in 1810, and the singer Elisabeth Röckel.
Is this the original version of Für Elise?
Yes, for the part it covers: the notes and rhythms follow the first edition of 1867, including the left hand. Two things differ - the pedal marks are left out, and a final A is added so the excerpt ends on the home note instead of running into the next section.