To judge by the millions of views given its dozens of YouTube performances, along with the million or so annual Google searches for its title, the most popular solo piano piece ever composed is a short, intermediate-level bagatelle by a composer who thought so little of it he didn’t even bother to publish it in his lifetime.
“Für Elise” translates easily as “For Elise.” The complete title, translated from Beethoven’s German, is “For Elise, in remembrance.”
