Symphony trivia

Ever since Beethoven write 9 symphonies, that has been the benchmark for many later composers.

Of course, before then symphonies were two a penny - Haydn wrote 104 (or so; some say 106, but there are 104 numbered ones); that's 3 a year between 1759 (no. 1) and 1795 (no. 104). One can only imagine Beethoven in 1824, after finishing his 9th, thinking "only another 95 to go..."

Plenty of 9ers then followed - Dvorak, Bruckner, Mahler, Vaughan Williams come to mind easily.  Schubert completed 7, numbered 1-6 and 9, with an unfinished no. 8. No. 7 exists in draft and part orchestration. There are various unfinished symphonies, which well-meaning musicians "finished". Nice work if you can get it.

There is (or probably was) the "Curse of the Ninth" superstition, that a composer would die after writing nine symphonies. It didn't stop Dmitri Shostakovitch powering through to 15.

Wagner wrote one symphony and then gave up; writing operas was easier. If you switch off the vocals they sound like symphonies.

People like Brahms (4), Mendelssohn (5), Tchaikovsky (6), Elgar (2), Copland (3) and Sibelius (7) were a little more discerning - or maybe scared of the curse.

Berlioz wrote 4 but gave them names rather than numbers.

Schoenberg wrote 2 chamber symphonies but then decided he only needed 12 notes for the rest of his output.