Curse of the ninth "serious" music criticism. Though composers can indeed be found who died after achieving nine symphonies (the most famous example perhaps being Ludwig van Beethoven), nine is not a statistically predominant total in the history of the symphony. In addition, while some very prominent composers (e.g. Schubert, Dvořák, Spohr, Bruckner, Mahler, and Vaughan Williams) are regularly adduced as examples, several of them are only credited with having "composed nine symphonies" as a result of error or oversimplification (see below). According to Arnold Schoenberg, this superstition began with Gustav Mahler, who, after writing his Eighth Symphony, wrote "Das Lied von der Erde",
Beethoven and his contemporaries apparently nervous during the interview, and nearly lost all sense of composure when the older man pointed out a minor problem in the work. This story is recounted by Anton Schindler, and is of unknown authenticity, as Schindler is known to be an unreliable biographer of Beethoven. Schubert's friend Josef Hüttenbrenner claims that Beethoven was not home when Schubert called, and the variations were left with the house staff. However, Johann Friedrich Rochlitz, the publisher of the "Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung", recounts an 1822 meeting of his with Schubert, in which Schubert claims to have discussed Rochlitz with Beethoven, and described