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Why was Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 difficult for early audiences to understand?

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Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg in a suit, seated at a piano and holding a conductor's baton, appears to be conducting music in a wood-paneled room. — Arnold Schoenberg Austrian-American composer Arnold Schoenberg was one of the most influential teachers of music composition of the 20th century. He also was known for his creation of new methods of musical composition involving atonality, namely serialism and the 12-tone row.

At its premiere in 1907, Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 7 (1904), proved difficult for audiences to comprehend due to two primary factors:

High density of musical texture: The work featured a complex, dense arrangement of musical elements that challenged listeners accustomed to more traditional compositions.1
Unusual structural form: Rather than following the conventional four-movement structure typical of a "classic" string quartet, Schoenberg blended these movements into one vast, continuous structure that lasted nearly 50 minutes without interruption.1

These stylistic choices departed from the expectations of early 20th-century audiences, contributing to the difficulties in understanding the work at the time of its debut.1