The curse of the ninth is a superstition in classical music that the ninth symphony is destined to be a composer's last, and that the composer is fated to die before completing a tenth. It is associated with composers including Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner and Mahler.

History

The curse of the ninth superstition originated in the late-Romantic period of classical music. Then he wrote his Ninth Symphony and thought he had beaten the curse, but died with his Tenth Symphony incomplete.

This superstition, however, was only hatched by Mahler. Before him, Beethoven and Schubert had died before or while writing their tenth symphonies. As Maddy Shaw Roberts writes, "The Curse of the Nine is a great story, and it probably fueled a lot of the angst behind Mahler's heart-wrenching symphonies. But perhaps it's best to treat it as a superstition."

  • Malcolm Arnold
  • Kurt Atterberg
  • Anton Bruckner (he completed 10 symphonies, but "Study Symphony" and "Symphony No.0" are not counted)
  • Antonín Dvořák (only 5 of his symphonies were known during his lifetime)
  • Alexander Glazunov
  • David Maslanka
  • Vincent Persichetti
  • Einojuhani Rautavaara
  • Luis Humberto Salgado
  • Alfred Schnittke
  • Roger Sessions
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams
  • Boris Tishchenko

In contrast, there are numerous composers who completed ten or more symphonies.

  • Havergal Brian
  • David Diamond
  • Roy Harris
  • Vagn Holmboe
  • Rued Langgaard
  • Darius Milhaud
  • Nikolai Myaskovsky
  • Andrzej Panufnik
  • Allan Pettersson
  • Joachim Raff
  • Edmund Rubbra
  • William Schuman
  • Robert Simpson
  • Dmitri Shostakovich
  • Emil Tabakov
  • Heitor Villa-Lobos
  • Mieczyslaw Weinberg

In 2012, composer Philip Glass stated, "Everyone is afraid to do a ninth. It is a jinx that people think about".

The curse of the ninth symphony was addressed in the sixth episode of the 19th season of the British crime series Midsomer Murders in 2018 and in the fifth episode of the ninth series of the British anthology series Inside No. 9, "Curse of the Ninth" (2024).

See also

  • 27 Club
  • The Scottish Play
  • Sweater curse
  • Symphony No. 10 – for counterexamples.

References

Further reading

  • Cooke, Deryck. Gustav Mahler: An Introduction to His Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
  • Lebrecht, Norman. Mahler Remembered. New York: W.W. Norton, 1987.
  • Mahler-Werfel, Alma. The Diaries, translated by Antony Beaumont. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000.
  • Dan Stehman, Roy Harris: An American Musical Pioneer. Boston: Twayne Publishers (1984): 163–169