The Curse of the Ninth

[Omicron9]

Greetings.

I would have suspected this topic to have been previously covered here; did a search and couldn't locate evidence of same. 

Ergo:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_ninth

Whether you believe in the curse or not, it does make for interesting discussion.  Thoughts?

-09

[Karl Henning]

I wonder if I can find the Schoenberg remarks in Style and Idea . . . .

[some guy]

Well, there are a few composers who only finished nine symphonies.

And you can also make a triangular object by connecting Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico on a map.

Plus, I'm almost sure that there have been flying objects that were not identified.

I'm just waiting for Segerstam to hear about this curse. What will he do???

[Omicron9]

Well, there are a few composers who only finished nine symphonies.

And you can also make a triangular object by connecting Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico on a map.

Plus, I'm almost sure that there have been flying objects that were not identified.

I'm just waiting for Segerstam to hear about this curse. What will he do???

This is exactly what I was getting at: the true cause of death of all the composers who died after their ninth symphony was because their UFO crashed into the Bermuda triangle.   

I don't subscribe to curses or superstition, but it is an interesting concept, much like discussing alien life.  Just throwing it out there.

-09

[Mahlerian]

I wonder if I can find the Schoenberg remarks in Style and Idea . . . .

"We shall know as little about what [Mahler's] Tenth (for which, as in the case of Beethoven, sketches exist) would have said as we know about Beethoven's or Bruckner's.  It seems that the Ninth is a limit.  He who wants to go beyond it must pass away.  It seems as if something might be imparted to us in the Tenth which we ought not yet to know, for which we are not yet ready.  Those who have written a Ninth stood too near to the hereafter.  Perhaps the riddles of this world would be solved, if one of those who knew them were to write a Tenth.  And that probably is not to take place."

- Arnold Schoenberg, in the essay "Gustav Mahler"

In case it needs to be said, I disagree with Schoenberg here, both about Mahler's Tenth (we do know quite well what he said in it, because the work is a complete short score draft) and about the superstition in general.  Still, it is a fine essay overall, and quite an insightful one.

[Karl Henning]

"We shall know as little about what [Mahler's] Tenth (for which, as in the case of Beethoven, sketches exist) would have said as we know about Beethoven's or Bruckner's.  It seems that the Ninth is a limit.  He who wants to go beyond it must pass away.  It seems as if something might be imparted to us in the Tenth which we ought not yet to know, for which we are not yet ready.  Those who have written a Ninth stood too near to the hereafter.  Perhaps the riddles of this world would be solved, if one of those who knew them were to write a Tenth.  And that probably is not to take place."

- Arnold Schoenberg, in the essay "Gustav Mahler"

In case it needs to be said, I disagree with Schoenberg here, both about Mahler's Tenth (we do know quite well what he said in it, because the work is a complete short score draft) and about the superstition in general.  Still, it is a fine essay overall, and quite an insightful one.

Thanks.  And, of course, Arnold had a thing for numbers which could at times be peculiar (witness his archetypal triskaidekaphobia).

[ahinton]

Thanks.  And, of course, Arnold had a thing for numbers which could at times be peculiar (witness his archetypal triskaidekaphobia).

Yes, but that condition bothered him because the number concerned exceeded 12 by one.

[some guy]

I have a feeling that if I were to meet a triskaideka in the street, I'd be afraid, too.

[Karl Henning]

Yes, but that condition bothered him because the number concerned exceeded 12 by one.

I like your sense of humor!

[some guy]

Now all the rest of us are thinking the same thing, "What about my sense of humor? Don't you like my sense of humor?"

[Monsieur Croche]

"We shall know as little about what [Mahler's] Tenth (for which, as in the case of Beethoven, sketches exist) would have said as we know about Beethoven's or Bruckner's.  It seems that the Ninth is a limit.  He who wants to go beyond it must pass away.  It seems as if something might be imparted to us in the Tenth which we ought not yet to know, for which we are not yet ready.  Those who have written a Ninth stood too near to the hereafter.  Perhaps the riddles of this world would be solved, if one of those who knew them were to write a Tenth.  And that probably is not to take place."

- Arnold Schoenberg, in the essay "Gustav Mahler"

This from the guy with a severe condition of triskaidekaphobia. 

[Karl Henning]

Great minds! 

Thanks.  And, of course, Arnold had a thing for numbers which could at times be peculiar (witness his archetypal triskaidekaphobia).

This from the guy with a severe condition of triskaidekaphobia. 

[Karl Henning]

Now all the rest of us are thinking the same thing, "What about my sense of humor? Don't you like my sense of humor?"

No one can make you feel humorless without your consent.

Snowflake.

[some guy]

No one can make you feel humorless without your consent.

Snowflake.

Made me laugh out loud.

Thanks Karl. (Your sense of humor is certainly unquestionable.)

[Karl Henning]

[millionrainbows]

I think that with steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, up to 20 symphonies are possible. Also, these could be renumbered as 9a, 9b, 9c, etc.

[Mahlerian]

I think that with steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, up to 20 symphonies are possible. Also, these could be renumbered as 9a, 9b, 9c, etc.

Good thing Haydn and Mozart were against doping.

[amw]

It's not really a curse; some composers have gone into overtime with extra symphonies, usually because the score is tied at the end of the ninth.

[some guy]

Karl!

Humor!!

[Monsieur Croche]

Arnold had a thing for numbers which could at times be peculiar (witness his archetypal triskaidekaphobia).

When you deliberately misspell the name of one of the two characters in your eponymous opera title to"Aron" instead of "Aaron," because Moses und Aaron is thirteen letters... this is not just a little, at times peculiar, tic.