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",
Symphony No. 6 (Schubert) Symphony No. 6 (Schubert) The Symphony No. 6 in C major, D 589, is a symphony by Franz Schubert composed between October 1817 and February 1818. Its first public performance was in Vienna in 1828. It is nicknamed the "Little C major" to distinguish it from his later Ninth Symphony, in the same key, which is known as the "Great C major". The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets (in C), two bassoons, two horns (in C), two trumpets (in C), timpani (in C and G) and strings. There are four movements: \relative c' { </score>