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, D 708A (Schubert) first two movements complete and orchestrated and a third movement in an incomplete piano sketch. Previously, his fourth symphony had had some Beethovenian influence (although it is more reminiscent of the earlier "Sturm und Drang" movement), his fifth Mozartian influence, and his sixth Rossinian influence (Schubert had listened to Rossini's music before writing his sixth symphony and was extremely impressed, then incorporating aspects of Rossini's style into his music). After writing the sixth symphony, Schubert experienced a directional crisis in his symphonic output, as he was not sure about whether to continue on the path, as in the sixth symphony,