I recently discovered Beethoven's
Rondo a Capriccio, Op. 129 or "Rage Over a Lost Penny" and found a version performed live at Carnegie Hall, which if anything is FASTER than many of the recorded versions I am hearing...
It's positively frenetic and heart-pounding piano music. I find myself consumed with an urge to leap up and do something brilliant. It's like someone is injecting creative adrenaline straight into my brain right now. I know what I need to listen to next time I'm making art, now...
The story is kind of hilarious about the name of the song. Beethoven was pretty much a crazy asshole. And he usually didn't live anywhere long, because he pissed off everyone. He once cut a hole in the wall of a rented apartment so he could have a better view of a cathedral, and he'd be making tons of loud noise composing at all hours, and he would usually accuse the maids of stealing from him, and run them off with shouting matches and thrown objects. So when he was composing this piece, a neighbor had overheard him fighting with a maid, over a lost gold penny, accusing her of stealing it, and after she fled, a ton of loud noises made the neighbor think that ol' Ludwig Van was in there throwing the furniture everywhere looking for this penny. So by the time the song was made public, the story had gotten around, and the funny nickname stuck. Which is great, since the song is not only frantic but also kind of...frivolous sounding, at times.
I love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWJj4567Mf0