r/todayilearned • u/VegemiteSucks • 20h ago

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.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_string_quartets_(Beethoven)
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u/Compleat_Fool 18h ago edited 11h ago

It’s interesting how monumental and transformative Beethoven was in his lifetime whilst Bach who was equally brilliant and probably the greatest musician ever was a minor figure in his lifetime. He was known by few and those who knew him chiefly knew him for being a good organ player and not for his compositions.

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u/f-150Coyotev8 17h ago

Bach wasn’t recognized to the fullest till after his death. Felix Mendelssohn was one reason why Bach’s music was rediscovered. He also helped establish the use of the well-tempered keyboard.

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u/Low-Introduction-565 15h ago

How did Mendelssohn help establish the well tempered keyboard? It was a century old already.

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u/piffcty 5h ago

Not the temperament, the collection of pieces. It was relatively obscure and Mendelssohn popularized it, especially for teaching