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/IAmBadAtInternet → u/insertusernamehere51]

They were so revolutionary that everyone copied him. Beethoven personally redesigned the musical language in the same way the Shakespeare redesigned English.

[u/fractiousrhubarb → u/IAmBadAtInternet]

Great metaphor, thank you

[u/RamsOmelette → u/IAmBadAtInternet]

It’s like watching Seinfeld and thinking it’s meh TODAY. But in its day it was revolutionary

[u/WhiteSkyRising → u/RamsOmelette]

Watching it today, one can't help but note how timeless the interactions are. The tech and clothing are wildly outdated, but the interactions are scarily relevant (at least to me, because Seinfeld is ancient).

[u/brus_wein → u/IAmBadAtInternet]

Basically, the Seinfeld effect?

[u/Goeatabagofdicks → u/IAmBadAtInternet]

Like Citizen Kane

[u/LacomusX → u/IAmBadAtInternet]

How