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",
Akron Youth Symphony Lockhart and John Morris Russell. Repertoire performed during Levi Hammer’s tenure includes major symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Haydn, Mozart, Shostakovich, Schubert and Tchaikovsky, concerti of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Saint-Saëns and Shostakovich, and symphonic works of Bach, Barber, Beethoven, Berlioz, Bernstein, Brahms, Copland, Debussy, Elgar, Fauré, Holst, Hindemith, Kodaly, Liszt, Mascagni, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Puccini, Ravel, Rossini, Johann Strauss Sr., Johann Strauss Jr., Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Weber. The Youth Symphony has played many concerts at Akron's E. J. Thomas Hall. Most notably however, in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the orchestra's founding, the Akron Youth Symphony played at Carnegie Hall.