People lose track of the fact that how things are isn’t how they were. Simple things we take for granted in art, like perspective in a painting, were massive revolutions, sometimes even considered evil, and then became accepted. It’s always fun to cycle through some of these revolutions in order, really sink your brain into things before them, then the first example, and the acceptance to eventual norm. Gives you an appreciation for just what people really did when they brought that change.
Check out Nicolas Slonimsky’s ‘lexicon of musical invective’. It gathers contemporary reviews of all the major composers since Beethoven. It’s a hoot.