The Curse of the Ninth Symphony Quiz

Answer: Franz Schubert

Nikolaus Harnoncourt's recent recording of Schubert's symphonies attempted to set a precedent by re-numbering the "Unfinished" as his Seventh, thus making the "Great C Major" number Eight. Only time will tell whether this catches on or not!

Answer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Elgar completed only two symphonies (although Anthony Payne's "elaboration" of the surviving sketches of a Third has been much acclaimed and recorded several times). Britten wrote a "Spring Symphony", a "Simple Symphony", a "Sinfonia da Requiem" and a "Cello Symphony", none of which received a number.

The prolific Peter Maxwell Davies has completed eight symphonies, and has gone on record as saying that he does not intend to write any more - although whether this is for superstitious reasons remains unclear!

Answer: Antonin Dvorak

A lot of the confusion was due to the fact that Dvorak's first four symphonies at first remained unperformed and unpublished. Indeed, his First was not given its premiere until thirty years after his death, and even then not immediately admitted to the canon of numbered works.

Answer: Anton Bruckner

Bruckner also spent much of his later years revising his earlier symphonies - time that would have been better spent in writing new works, since most critics agree that the revisions did not significantly improve the originals.

Answer: Sir George Alexander Macfarren

Macfarren was a prolific and talented composer, despite being struck blind in 1860. In 1875 he was elected principal of the Royal Academy of Music, and was also Professor of Music at Cambridge University. While two of his symphonies (numbers 4 and 7) have been recorded, the rest of his music is almost entirely neglected.

Answer: Malcolm Arnold

Malcolm Arnold has made no secret of the fact that he regards his Ninth Symphony as his "swansong" and has no intention of composing another. Of the other composers mentioned here, Searle wrote five symphonies, and Tippett four. Brian produced an impressive 32, 20 of
them written after he reached the age of 80 (he died in 1972, aged 96).

Answer: Alexander Glazunov

Tchaikovsky wrote six numbered symphonies, plus the "Manfred" symphony. Rachmaninov wrote only three, but Shostakovich resoundingly broke the jinx, by completing fifteen - a sixteenth remaining incomplete at his death.

Answer: Roger Sessions

Sessions never achieved the relative popularity of the other composers listed here, preferring to plough his own stylistic furrow. Of these others, Bernstein and Copland each wrote three symphonies, while Barber wrote two.

Answer: Kurt Atterberg

The music of the Swedish Atterberg (1887-1974) deserves to be better known than it is. His symphonies in particular are written in a lush, romantic, tuneful style that recalls Richard Strauss. All of them have recently been recorded by the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Frankfurt, conducted by Ari Rasilainen.

Answer: Gustav Mahler

The first movement of Mahler's Tenth Symphony is often performed as a stand-alone concert item. However, it has subsequently been "completed" by a number of other people, most famously Deryck Cooke.

In case you think I had to scrape around to get as many as ten composers for this quiz, the following have also completed exactly nine symphonies: Franz Krommer (1759-1831); Louis Spohr (1784-1859); Felix Nowowiejski (1877-1946); Egon Wellesz (1885-1974); Harald Saeverud (1897-1992); Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987); David Diamond (1915-2005); and Irwin Bazelon (1922-95). There may well be others! In addition, Alfred Schnittke completed eight, with a ninth remaining unfinished at his death. Of recent composers to beat the "curse", Hans-Werner Henze's Tenth was premiered in 2002.