July 13th; On This Day!

[Joy]

On July 13th, 1951 -- Composer Arnold Schoenberg dies in Los Angeles on Friday the 13th. He was obsessed with the number 13 (his age was 76; 7 + 6 = 13) and lay fearfully in bed all day, dying just before midnight.
Didn't Mahler have this obsession too with numbers? Did any other composer have this number obsession? How about Beethoven, I once read they thought his favourite number was #9 or something with the #9?

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Joy:
On July 13th, 1951 -- Composer Arnold Schoenberg dies in Los Angeles on Friday the 13th. He was obsessed with the number 13 (his age was 76; 7 + 6 = 13) and lay fearfully in bed all day, dying just before midnight.
Didn't Mahler have this obsession too with numbers? Did any other composer have this number obsession? How about Beethoven, I once read they thought his favourite number was #9 or something with the #9?

Dear Joy;

Mahler was obsessed with the number 10, or more precisely, he was obsessed with composing a 10th symphony.


Hofrat

[PDG]

Originally posted by Joy:
On July 13th, 1951 -- Composer Arnold Schoenberg dies in Los Angeles on Friday the 13th. He was obsessed with the number 13 (his age was 76; 7 + 6 = 13) and lay fearfully in bed all day, dying just before midnight.

Now that's just darned bad luck! Still, I suppose he could also have conked out at 85, 94 or even 113!!

[Peter]

Originally posted by Hofrat:

Dear Joy;

Mahler was obsessed with the number 10, or more precisely, he was obsessed with composing a 10th symphony.


Hofrat

I thought he was obsessed with the number 9 fearing that since Beethoven no one would survive beyond a 9th symphony which is why he didn't call das Lied von der erde his 9th!


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'Man know thyself'

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Peter:
I thought he was obsessed with the number 9 fearing that since Beethoven no one would survive beyond a 9th symphony which is why he didn't call das Lied von der erde his 9th!

Peter;

Surely Mahler heard of Joachim Raff (1822-1882) who completed 11 symphonies before Mahler completed his first!


Hofrat

[Joy]

Originally posted by Peter:
I thought he was obsessed with the number 9 fearing that since Beethoven no one would survive beyond a 9th symphony which is why he didn't call das Lied von der erde his 9th!

This is what I thought too as, I thought, Mahler was very superstitious.



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'Truth and beauty joined'

[Peter]

Originally posted by Hofrat:

Peter;

Surely Mahler heard of Joachim Raff (1822-1882) who completed 11 symphonies before Mahler completed his first!


Hofrat

He obviously (rightly) didn't include Raff in the same category as Beethoven.

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'Man know thyself'

[Sorrano]

Bruckner, also, had an obsession with numbers which may very well have affected Mahler--i.e. he died while composing his 9th Symphony. His obsession, though was more a desire to know quantities of things and to have perfect balance in things; for example, his music consists of regular phrases and there is extreme care in making sure that there is numerical balance in the music. I've read that one time during taking a walk he had to stop at a park and count all the statues.

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Peter:
He obviously (rightly) didn't include Raff in the same category as Beethoven.

Dear Peter;

Well, Mahler is certainly not in the same category as Beethoven either. For that matter, is anyone in the same category as Beethoven?


Hofrat

[Peter]

Originally posted by Hofrat:

Dear Peter;

Well, Mahler is certainly not in the same category as Beethoven either. For that matter, is anyone in the same category as Beethoven?


Hofrat

True, but I'm only going on what I know about Mahler - he was obsessed with the thought of death and for a while was reluctant to write a 9th symphony.



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'Man know thyself'

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Peter:
True, but I'm only going on what I know about Mahler - he was obsessed with the thought of death and for a while was reluctant to write a 9th symphony.

"...but Mahler, whose fear of death and sense of fate had been intensified by the diagnosis of a heart condition in 1907, refused to number the work 10, citing Beethoven, Schubert and Bruckner. He did, however, start work on a tenth symphony, but died before he could complete it."

This is sited from the following website:
http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/

(Also known as The Classical Music Pages)