It was Mahler who first gave a name to the strange pattern befalling composers of symphonic music. His idol, Beethoven, died shortly after writing his 9th Symphony. His teacher, Anton Bruckner, died in the middle of composing his 9th Symphony. As symphonic works were reaching the height of their popularity, a paranormal phenomenon also surfaced. Those who dared write their ninth symphony… were doomed to perish shortly thereafter. At least that’s what the superstitious Mahler would have us believe.
Mahler named this phenomenon “the curse of the ninth”. The legend, now widespread throughout the classical music world, has had a mighty impact. It struck fear in the hearts of many composers: from Schoenberg who thought the number nine was “too close to the hereafter”, to Philip Glass who had to finish his 10th symphony before he got the courage to go back and complete his ninth.
The curse may have also left an impact on the quality of works. Fear of the curse, combined with an admiration of Beethoven’s landmark work, has caused many composers to craft their ninth symphonies with extra care. That pressure helped create some true treasures; ninth symphonies have a reputation as being a composer’s magnum opus, where their musical and personal philosophies shine through.
Here are some of our favorite 9th symphonies written in response to (or in spite of) the “curse of the ninth”. Were the composers who wrote them doomed or divinely inspired? Decide for yourself!
1. Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (1824)
According to Gustav Mahler, the “curse of the ninth” began with Ludwig van Beethoven. Though successful, Beethoven struggled through many difficulties in his life, including childhood trauma, deafness, and alcoholism. His creations often expressed a stormy nature, mixed with a flair for passionate, indelible melodies.
Beethoven’s 9th symphony marked a turning point in Western classical music. Despite the composer being almost completely deaf during its creation, the work masterfully combined a full chorus with a full orchestra. What’s more, Beethoven’s setting of Friedrich Schiller’s “An die Freude” (Ode to Joy) within the piece sent a powerful message of brotherhood and hope - something the composer desperately wanted others to hear, even if he could no longer hear it himself.
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was premiered in Vienna in 1824. The composer died three years later on March 26th, 1827, likely from illness spurred on by an unhealthy liver and hepatitis B. The symphony was his last major work.
2. Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 9, "The Great" (1826)
The death of Franz Schubert at the age of 31 was a huge blow to the classical community. A gifted composer and pianist, Schubert’s frail health fundamentally fueled his drive to leave a mark on the world. The final six years leading up to his death were filled with enormous creative output, spurred on perhaps by a realization of his own mortality.
Schubert felt moved to write a ninth symphony after attending the premiere of Beethoven’s in 1824. His colleague’s influence was obvious; Schubert even quotes a line from Beethoven in the symphony’s final movement.
The resulting work is one that shows Schubert at the top of his melodic writing. It takes a leap into expanding a symphony’s capabilities with lush orchestration and grand overarching themes.
Unfortunately, the piece never premiered during his lifetime. Its length and technical demands made orchestras wary. As such, Schubert couldn’t find a willing ensemble before his untimely death in 1828. His death came in the middle of writing his tenth symphony - not even two years after completing his ninth.
3. Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (1896)
Anton Bruckner was over 50 years old by the time he achieved his first major breakthrough as a composer. The organist started composing later than many of his contemporaries; his style, rife with extreme dynamics and plenty of extended lines, was initially rejected by the Vienna Philharmonic as being too wild. Yet with his breakthrough of his 5th symphony, Bruckner finally started to get more widespread recognition.
The rejection faced by Bruckner in his career left him a cautious man. He was particularly wary while writing his 9th Symphony — not because of some curse, but because of his reverence towards Beethoven. Bruckner wanted his ninth symphony to be perfect: for audiences to react to his work just as they had reacted to Beethoven’s.
Unfortunately, Bruckner passed away in 1896 at age 72 without completing the symphony’s final movement. Though incomplete, the work doesn’t end abruptly: the final bars of the third movement, labeled Adagio: Langsam, feierlich (Solem and slowly), bring a fitting conclusion to Bruckner’s deeply passionate —albeit unfinished — work.
4. Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 (1893)
Antonín Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony is a work better known by its nickname: the “New World Symphony”. Years later, it is still considered one of the pinnacle works of the Czech composer’s career.
Dvořák’s ninth was written during his brief stint as Music Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, and it premiered at Carnegie Hall on December 16, 1893. It was a piece with a clear message: classical musicians of the United States should search for inspiration within their own cultures, particularly African American traditions.
This message came at a time when schools in the United States were in the middle of developing classical music programs in this country. Many program founders looked to Europe for inspiration; Dvorak’s own appointment as Music Director was part of this philosophy.
Yet, Dvorak fundamentally disagreed with this administrative approach. He was a steward of his own homeland’s traditional musical forms and was curious about the traditional music he could find in the United States. Having learned about African American spirituals through his assistant - a self-taught baritone named Harry Burleigh - Dvorak encouraged students to start not with European music, but with beautiful music in their own homeland.
Dvorak soon took his own advice to heart. After returning to his homeland of Bohemia, Dvoark made a vow in 1895 to dedicate the remaining years of his life to programmatic music: music that tells a narrative or a story as it progresses. His ninth symphony remained his final foray into the symphonic genre.
5. Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 (1909)
The circumstances immediately preceding the composition of Mahler’s ninth symphony were difficult. His daughter died in July 1907, and he was diagnosed with a heart condition the following year. Throughout these periods, the composer reflected on his appreciation of life despite its hardships: a bittersweet sentiment that eventually found its way into his Ninth Symphony.
But his Symphony No. 9 is not, in fact, the ninth symphony that Mahler wrote. For it was also during this time that Mahler experienced increasing paranoia about a phenomenon surrounding composers. Sure that he was next in line, Mahler tried to evade the curse’s grasp. In 1908, Mahler wrote a work that is, in all intents and purposes, his ninth symphony. But he named the work Das Lied von der Erde, hoping that changing the name would save him from death… like hotels refusing to have a 13th floor.
Mahler’s next work, his 10th completed symphony, was published with the name Symphony No. 9 in 1909 - and for a while, the curse seemed to pass. The composer was even feeling good enough to tour with the New York Philharmonic in 1910. Yet fate had other plans. As Mahler was preparing to debut new works, he succumbed to endocarditis. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Mahler’s final completed work was a work known to the world as his “Ninth Symphony”.
6. Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 (1945)
In 1945, Soviets crossed into Germany to help secure victory during World War II. The mood in the USSR was triumphant. Citizens rejoiced. Even Shostakovich talked publicly about how his ninth symphony would praise the achievement, teasing the press with hints of a grand choral and orchestral masterpiece.
Yet the promised symphony never came. Instead, what Shostakovich delivered to the public was a grand farce - a musical work that subverted expectations of music critics and politicians alike.
The Ninth Symphony by Shostakovich is his shortest symphony. It is neither grand nor heroic. Trombones interrupt jaunty melodies that otherwise sound like a carnival. The second movement’s melancholy juxtaposes harshly against the frenzied passages of the symphony’s grand finale. In Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony, we glimpse a man constantly at war with his surroundings, using music to subtly lash out at the cultural expectations and political pressures placed on composers of his time.
Perhaps it was his defiance that spared Shostakovich from the curse of the Ninth; after all, the composer went on to pen a total of 15 symphonies. Still, Shostakovich’s trick didn’t go totally unnoticed. In 1948, the Soviet government banned many of his works as part of an effort to crack down on art that might damage “national character.” The ban worked; Shostakovich went quiet and didn’t premiere another symphony until after Stalin’s death in 1953.
7. Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 9 (1957)
The music of Ralph Vaughan Williams bears an interesting reflection on his life. By the time he was working on his 9th symphony in 1956, Vaughan Williams was 83 years old, and had lived through two World Wars.
Though the composer himself denied that war held any influence on this work, it's impossible to ignore the symphony’s darker themes. Vaughan Williams is known for his references to nature, both light and dark; this symphony explores decisively stormy emotions, with frantic string passages, inventive saxophone writing, and sections of chaos throughout. There’s almost a flair of rock’n’roll in the beginning of the work’s first movement.
Curse or no curse, it's little wonder that Vaughan Williams didn’t live long past the premiere of his ninth symphony. He was simultaneously working on three other works outside this huge symphony - a lot to handle at any age. Vaughan Williams lived to see his final symphony’s premiere but passed away the night before Sir Adrian Boult was set to record it.
8. Vincent Persichetti: Symphony No. 9, "Janiculum" (1971)
Vincent Persichetti was an American composer best known for his band music. He often advocated for the strengths found in wind ensemble writing, expanding beyond typical marches and fanfares. The emphasis on wind writing comes through even in his full orchestra pieces - especially in his curious, though not often performed, ninth symphony.
Persichetti’s Symphony No. 9 “Janiculum” is one of the shortest entries on the list, clocking in at just about 23 minutes. The subtitle refers to Janiculum Hill: the second-tallest hill in Rome, and the site of a battle between French and Roman forces in 1849. Persichetti’s Ninth Symphony uses seemingly disparate motifs and colors in a way that, somehow, comes together in the end, coalescing into a chord that sounds jazzy - almost like the ending of a piece of music for big band.
The question of why Persichetti didn’t write any symphonies after his ninth seems to be left largely unanswered. After all, the composer lived for several more years after the work’s premiere in 1971, and wrote many other pieces of music during that time. Regardless of the decision, Persichetti’s Ninth Symphony follows in the footsteps of many that came before it, leaving a sense of grandeur, finality, and technical prowess in its wake.
9. David Maslanka: Symphony No. 9 (2011)
This symphony from a Polish-American composer is one of the few symphonies written for wind ensembles. In fact, all of David Maslanka’s symphonies were written exclusively for that instrumentation!
Maslanka wrote his ninth symphony at the age of 74. It is a contemplative work that often references both choral and poetic works about the nature of memory. The piece begins with a reading of “Secrets” by W. Merwin - a poem that explores death through recollections of the author’s parents’ passing. Also hidden within the symphony’s various movements are sacred chorale melodies.
The Symphony first premiered in 2011. While this was Maslanka’s last symphony, he lived for several more years after its debut, crafting more melodies and works for smaller ensembles. It is entirely likely that he, like many before him, felt that his ninth symphony exhausted all that he needed to say using the genre’s structure.
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