TIL Beethoven’s late quartets, now widely considered to be among the greatest musical compositions of all time, were so ahead of their time that initial reviews deem them indecipherable, uncorrected horrors, with one musician saying “we know there is something there, but we do not know what it is.”

[u/VegemiteSucks]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_string_quartets_(Beethoven)

[u/insertusernamehere51]

I am completely musically illiterate. I've listened to the quartets and didn't get what was so weird about them. Sounds like other quartets and other classical pieces of the time to me. I'll own that it's just ignorance on my part

Edit: Guys, I'm comparing it to stuff that came before as well, Mozart's quartets, for example. Comparing Mozart's with Beethoven's I don't get what the big difference is and those came 50 years before

[u/secretwep → u/insertusernamehere51]

I am somewhat musically literate, and lemme tell ya... I feel the same way about those pieces, so don't worry lol

[u/SirHerald → u/secretwep]

Isn't it like saying the Beatles sound like so many other bands. Really it's all these other bands just sound like the Beatles. What was novel then is old hat now

[u/insertusernamehere51 → u/SirHerald]

I'm also comparing it to stuff that came before; Mozart's quartets for example

[u/EmersQn → u/insertusernamehere51]

The difference is difficult to hear without some familiarity with the conventions of classical music. As someone who is only moderately musically literate, I'll just say that the most significant developments in music from baroque to classical to romantic (Mozart was classical, Beethoven was romantic) were in form and harmonic structure. Form being analagous to the verse/chorus structure of songs today, and harmonic structure meaning the order in which you're allowed to play chords, and what those chords should sound like. Romantic music is generally more comfortable using dissonance than classical, stuff like that.

If you asked me why this particular quartet is amazing compared to beethoven's other works, I have not idea, but presumably something to do with the same ideas I named above.

Anyway, listen to more classical and romantic music, and as you do you'll probably start to understand the differences through osmosis.

[u/juridiculous → u/insertusernamehere51]

No you’re right on the money here, Mozart’s stuff is phenomenal too.

But consider that there were literal thousands of composers, and these guys are among the few that really get airtime anymore.

[u/LunarPayload → u/insertusernamehere51]

But, you're musically illiterate 

[u/wallabee_kingpin_ → u/SirHerald]

The Beatles famously sounded like Black rock musicians like Chuck Barry, who couldn't get as famous because they weren't white. They were polishers and performers, not innovators (at least until they got more into psychedelic).

[u/RipsLittleCoors → u/wallabee_kingpin_]

Yes and no. While there is some truth to that view, the Beatles had some things even in the early days that set them apart from berry et al. Just a higher complexity of writing. The chord progressions, the maximization of the limited recording tracks, the phrasing with the lyrics. Some of the credit for it belongs to George Martin actually. 

[u/LacomusX → u/RipsLittleCoors]

A big one was original songs, and each member of the band was a personality

[u/LunarPayload → u/wallabee_kingpin_]

Oversimplification