When I was in fourth grade, I was part of a youth orchestra in Boston, and my conductor jokingly told us about how Beethoven, upon dying, placed some sort of curse on future composers such that they could not outdo him in symphonic works. The story continues with Mahler, always conscious of Beethoven’s shadow and fearful, one day suddenly jumping the gun and trying to cheat Death by writing a tenth symphony. (He of course died after only sketching out ideas for that work.)
But it’s not just Mahler. Schubert wrote nine as well, never finishing the appropriately titled “Unfinished Symphony” (although he had ample time to do so – the unfinished one in question is #8). Bruckner as well died without finishing the final movement of his ninth symphony (which I am currently listening to). There are, of course, many composers who never reach 9 at all – Brahms had 4, Rachmaninoff had 3, and Tchaikovsky had 6. But the latter two weren’t associated with Germany at all, and one would suppose that Beethoven’s ghost stuck around on familiar territory.
It could really just be coincidence about those 9’s. Because symphonies became longer and increasingly complicated as the 19th century chugged along, it would take several years to write each one, and there are only so many productive years that a composer has. That would explain the rapid drop from Haydn and Mozart, who wrote 104(+4) and 41 symphonies, respectively.
Honestly, I would be happy if I could complete just one full symphony in my lifetime … and I’d die happily if I could write nine!
Leave a Reply