Dear Internauts,

Since 13th October, 2009, the Internet and the media of many countries have mentioned my name in connection with a number of statements which I feel I should qualify. According to reports which have spread with astonishing alacrity, I have claimed to prove that the famous piano piece known as “Für Elise” was not written by Ludwig van Beethoven. In fact, what I argue in my doctoral thesis is that Beethoven might not have been the person who gave the piece the form that we all know today. The principal theme and practically all the material contained in the work are, of course, by Beethoven, as is proved by the drafts of manuscript BH 116, which are conserved in the Beethoven Haus and were studied with great insight by Barry Cooper and Sieghard Brandenburg. My doubts concern solely the authorship of the version published in 1867 by Ludwig Nohl, the version that we all know today and which gave the piece its title. I think I have demonstrated that there are sound reasons to believe that the autograph manuscript on which Nohl claimed to have based his transcription never existed. Whether or not this means that the authorship of the bagatelle should not be attributed to Beethoven depends on how we approach the problem of the identity of a musical work: a fascinating problem which becomes all the more interesting when we compare the Western classical musical tradition with other musical traditions, both past and present.

However, at this stage the debate has become so oversimplified that I cannot subscribe to many of the affirmations that have been attributed to me. It was not my intention to cause such a stir; my doctoral thesis is an academic study which I have researched and written as rigorously as possible, and the publication of the results will, I hope, contribute to make the tenets of my argument clear. For the time being, I merely hope that, amid the din, there can still be a space for reflection on the extraordinary richness of the music that we love.

Luca Chiantore