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",
Choral Symphony (Dyson) Choral Symphony (Dyson) George Dyson's Psalm CVII Symphony and Overture, is a choral symphony written in 1910 as part of the composers studies at Oxford for his Doctorate in Music. Not rediscovered until 2014, it is one of the few compositions surviving from the composers early years. Dyson began work on the symphony shortly after completing his Bachelor of Music degree in 1909. Paul Spicer notes that the Oxford rules required a five-year gap between completing his Bachelorate and submitting for his Doctorate, this meant that while Dyson took his Doctoral exams in September and November 1910, the symphony was