9 was at the time, Le Brocq offers a modern comparison: it was "like watching a game of AFL when suddenly some people come on with skateboards."People accepted Beethoven's idea over time, but it started with a reputation of being quite radical, according to Le Brocq.Beethoven wrote the music late in life, when he was almost completely deaf, which only adds to its legend.At the 1824 premiere in Vienna, he famously continued conducting after the orchestra had finished, unaware of the applause until a soloist turned him around to face the cheering audience.Since then, the symphony, especially its Ode to Joy finale, has become one of the most recognisable pieces of classical music.Its mystique is heightened by the sheer difficulty of writing symphonies Orchestras wouldn't play that music, and conductors wouldn't conduct them," Hughes explains.Despite these obstacles, many persisted, even drawing inspiration from Beethoven's Symphony no.9.Across 19th-century Germany, Paris and London, composers such as Emilie Mayer, Louise Farrenc and Alice Mary Smith wrote symphonies that drew on Beethoven's music, while developing their own distinctive voices.Mayer came close to matching Beethoven's output, completing eight symphonies