What is the curse of the ninth?
The curse of the ninth is a superstition in the history of classical music. According to this, a ninth symphony for a composer will be the last, and death will come during writing or after completing this piece. There are two interpretations, according to the first, this is to ‘defend’ the fame and legacy of Beethoven who himself composed nine symphonies, and nobody should go beyond the Master; in the other version even Beethoven is under this curse, who indeed died soon after his Ninth Symphony.
The origins of the myth
According to the myth, it all began with Gustav Mahler, who realized that Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner all had died before or while writing their next, their tenth symphony. To trick the curse, he refused the call his ninth symphony with this number, but rather as a song cycle called Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth).
The plan seemed to work for some time, when he finished his tenth symphony (he titled it ninth), seemingly all was fine. The curse, however, returned when he was working on his eleventh (titled tenth) symphony. He contracted pneumonia and died young, at the age of 51.
The myth got bigger in time, involving Dvořák and Spohr as victims and proof of the curse.
Problems with the myth
There are few problems with the theory. Mahler did not know about all the ‘victims’ of the curse, he only would have been aware of Beethoven and Bruckner.
Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 (the Great Symphony), was known in Mahler’s time as his Seventh. Spohr, also on the list, indeed completed a tenth symphony. Dvořák’s New World Symphony was published as No. 5 and only after his death public found out about four other symphonies.
In Bruckner’s case, he in fact died while composing his ninth.
Before and after Mahler, naturally, many composers went beyond nine symphonies. Haydn wrote 104 (plus two unnumbered) symphonies, Mozart 41, Shostakovich 15 – just to name a few examples.
