Bernard Chasan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>And if Beethoven did not have wealthy and musically sophisticated patrons,
>he still probably would have been in financial straits.  Somehow I do not
>believe that the late quartets were big crowd pleasers.

He was in dire financial straits, because of hyper-inflation brought on
by the war, feeble copyright laws, and his own non-attention.

The late quartets did not even please the patrons, his Opus 18 quartets
were, so were his middle period ones.  The reception of the late quartets
was mixed, with the repeated comment from musicians and others that there
was something there, but they did not yet understand them.

Stirling Newberry <[log in to unmask]>