I think from a technical perspective, this is basically still true about Bach. It's not to say he has the most enjoyable music to listen to, but rather his music is built in a way that shows he was basically metagaming his music harder than anyone else ever has.

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stevage 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Why do you say metagaming? Did he really advance the art so far? I think he was just incredibly good at producing music within his specific parameters.

(Said as a huge fan of his work. I spent a year playing essentially nothing but one of his fugues.)

	▲	Ericson2314 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah he did hugely advance it. This didn't really get noticed in his own day, as they were busy dumbing things down into the classical period, but he was hugely influencial through rediscovery. Except for Italian humanists rediscovering Greek and Roman writings, I'm having a hard time thinking of an earlier instance of a chiefly posthumous legacy.