Why so judgmental? I seek out some art for the purpose of being soothed, some for informing, and, yes, some for challenge.
Why do you consider people who are soothed by some art at a "loss"?
Chopin’s music was formless and highly dissonant to many of his contemporaries
So what? Every artist has his/her critics in any generation. Including Nabokov for "Lolita". Why do you even bring that up? If you go by that standard you would spurn "Lolita".
You misunderstood what I said. My point was that you would appreciate Chopin even more if you heard how shocking and dissonant his music really was. I remember one critic talking about someone reading reviews of Beethoven symphonies written at the time they were premiered where the critic of that time whines about how difficult the music was. There is a temptation to laugh at the yokel for not getting what sounds so pleasing to us now but the fact is that we should be envious of their ability to hear Beethoven (or Chopin) as new and shocking music.