Who's Paul McCartney?
Or "Who's Haydn?" or "Who is Jasper Johns?" Everyone can't answer every question with certainty. On deeper contemplation, it is often later realized that once we have begun to explore what we might have missed in culture, we discover the threads that tie everything together.
I discovered Beethoven in my early 20s and pored over his work for several years--which led to a curiosity about all kinds of classical music--especially 20th century music (Stravinsky, Bartok, Varese, Reich, Glass...) I don't listen to Beethoven any longer but I fully understand the classical period--and know how Haydn fits into it.
This answers the question of why the humanities are important to a well rounded education: It's the making of connections with things you didn't know.
I discovered Beethoven in my early 20s and pored over his work for several years--which led to a curiosity about all kinds of classical music--especially 20th century music (Stravinsky, Bartok, Varese, Reich, Glass...) I don't listen to Beethoven any longer but I fully understand the classical period--and know how Haydn fits into it.
This answers the question of why the humanities are important to a well rounded education: It's the making of connections with things you didn't know.
