You probably have heard Beethoven’s famous piano piece “For Elise,” but do you know who “Elise” was?

One story is that Elise was Elisabeth Röckel. She once sang in Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, and the two became very good friends. Beethoven called her “Elise.” When Röckel was leaving the city of Vienna, Beethoven wrote “For Elise” to say goodbye to her. Another story is that Elise was Therese Malfatti. Beethoven was in love with her. He wrote a piece for her and put “For Therese” on the manuscript. Malfatti kept the manuscript and left it to her family when she died. Later, a man copied the manuscript and wrote “For Elise” by mistake. There is another possible Elise: Elise Barensfeld. She learned the piano from Malfatti, the same Malfatti in the second story. To help Malfatti, Beethoven wrote the piece for her to use to teach Barensfeld.

These are just some guesses about who Elise was. We may never know the right answer. No one knew about the piece until 1867, when the manuscript was found. This was 40 years after Beethoven’s death, so he wasn’t around to tell us who Elise was. Only one thing is for sure: “For Elise” will always be enjoyed.