Heard It in an Ad · Story 5
Taiwan · garbage trucks
In Taiwan, "Für Elise" means take out the rubbish
In Taiwanese neighbourhoods, the garbage truck arrives playing Beethoven.
When "Für Elise" drifts down a Taiwanese street in the evening, it is not someone practising the piano. It is the signal to grab the rubbish bags and head outside.
Where you heard it
In many Taiwanese cities, rubbish is not left at the kerb. Residents hand it to the collection truck themselves when it comes by at set times. The trucks play music so people can hear them coming, and the most familiar tunes are "Für Elise" and "A Maiden's Prayer" by the Polish composer Tekla Bądarzewska.
The real story
For such a famous piece, it was never published in Beethoven's lifetime. It appeared only in 1867, forty years after his death, when the scholar Ludwig Nohl found it and printed it. The autograph Nohl said he saw has since been lost. Nobody knows who Elise was. One theory holds that Nohl misread the name Therese.
Tell a friend
"Für Elise" was not published until forty years after Beethoven died, and in Taiwan it is the garbage truck song.
Ludwig van Beethoven1770–1827Read the story of Beethoven →