In 1818, London's Royal Philharmonic Society commissioned Beethoven to produce (for ?100) a hymn to the brotherhood of humanity. Beethoven finished the piece in 1823: the notoriously difficult, groundbreaking Ninth (The Ode to Joy) was his first symphony in more than a decade.

Alas, after its debut, the symphony was deemed unplayable and promptly shelved by the Philharmonic for a dozen years.

[Many other orchestras simply stopped playing during the hard bits.]

[In May 2002, the earliest-known draft of the Ninth was auctioned in London. Having been appraised at ?200,000 ($460,000), the draft sold for ?1,326,650.]