I just read franmcveigh's interesting post on numbers. I am not into sports, so my numbers will be differently oriented.
I am currently playing in the Waukegan Symphony (Illinois) and we are performing Dvorak's Symphony #9 in a few weeks. Nine has turned out to be a fateful number in classical music. Beethoven wrote nine symphonies before he died. Antonin Dvořák wrote nine symphonies. Gustav Mahler called his ninth symphony "The Song of the Earth" (Das Lied von der Erde) in order to escape the curse of the ninth. However, he then wrote his Symphony #9 and died before finishing number 10. Who else? Franz Schubert. Anton Bruckner died after his ninth symphony, but his first symphony is number zero (Symphony #0), so that makes ten in total. There are a number of lesser known composers who also wrote only nine symphonies ("only nine," as if that is somehow lacking!)
Dvořák's ninth symphony is subtitled "From the New World." He wrote it while living in NYC in 1893. He was working as the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. He was fascinated by the music of African-Americans and Native Americans; these influences show up in the symphony. I will add that it's challenging but also really fun to play!
In researching who wrote nine symphonies, I came across the interesting trivia that Midsomer Murders has an episode (Synopsis: http://midsomermurders.org/curseninth2.htm) titled "The Curse of the Ninth." I have never watched this series, but now I might have to have a look.
If you are interested in who else wrote only nine symphonies, here are at least some of the composers: Alexander Glazunov, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Alfred Schnittke, and Malcom Arnold.
On the other hand (more numbers), Franz Joseph Haydn wrote 106, Mozart wrote 41 numbered symphonies (there is some dispute about exactly how many), Johannes Brahms wrote 4. Tchaikovsky wrote 6. Some well-known composers, like Frederic Chopin, wrote none, zero.
