Les soirées de l’orchestre

For several years, Hector Berlioz was vilified by his contemporaries because of the often bizarre orchestral techniques he pioneered. (No composer had ever written timpani chords before, and one can only wonder what violinists must have thought when he asked them to thump the strings with the wood part of the bow.) Today, Berlioz is considered the father of modern orchestration, and his Symphonie Fantastique and La Damnation de Faust are famous the world over.