ABSTRACT
Nikolai Miaskovsky is the only contemporary composer who writes symphonies in such numbers that comparison with the prolific eighteenthcentury composers is in order. Ever since Beethoven, nine has been considered the limit of numerical achievement in writing symphonies. It is said that prolific romantic composers such as Bruckner and Mahler had a superstitious feeling about exceeding the number nine and felt that the composition of a tenth symphony would be interrupted by death. Miaskovsky, living in a country where superstitions are not in vogue, has gone merrily along, and refused to interrupt his symphonic production even when Hitler’s hordes menaced Moscow. The latest symphony reported was No. 23.
