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",
The Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and Other Lost Songs The Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and Other Lost Songs "The Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and Other Lost Songs" is a 1977 science fiction short story by Carter Scholz. It was first published in "Universe 7". Time travelling musicologists enter the mind of Ludwig van Beethoven so as to observe the creation of his ninth symphony, but their presence changes things in unexpected ways, and the symphony is lost. "The Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and Other Lost Songs" was a finalist for the 1977 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and the 1978 Hugo Award for