It's not harder to appreciate. Opera has swept the floor regarding popular sung music from the 1700s onwards, and has created quite a barren landscape. We have to thank England and Germany for having kept the repertoire alive enough during the last 3 centuries. It's merely a cultural thing.

Yeah, I reject the premise. My enjoyment of choral music predates and led to my participation in it, not the other way round. The key moment was getting a set of Tallis Scholars CDs as a kid. I fell in love as soon as I pressed play.

There's nothing "harder to appreciate" about a group of voices vs any other way of making music.