Question: what is the meaning behind beethoven's fur elise

title: Für Elise
text: It is not certain who `` Elise '' was . Max Unger suggested that Ludwig Nohl may have transcribed the title incorrectly and the original work may have been named `` Für Therese '' , a reference to Therese Malfatti von Rohrenbach zu Dezza ( 1792 -- 1851 ) . She was a friend and student of Beethoven 's to whom he supposedly proposed in 1810 , though she turned him down to marry the Austrian nobleman and state official Wilhelm von Droßdik in 1816 . Note that the piano sonata no . 24 , dedicated to Countess Thérèse von Brunswick , is also referred to sometimes as `` für Therese '' . The Austrian musicologist Michael Lorenz has shown that Rudolf Schachner , who in 1851 inherited Therese von Droßdik 's musical scores , was the son of Babette Bredl , born out of wedlock . Babette in 1865 let Nohl copy the autograph in her possession .