Orchestral instruments of in the 19th century

Hector Berlioz has been «madly in love for three years», according to Heinrich Heine, and we owe this «wild symphony» to this passion. Berlioz was 26 years old when he wrote his «Symphonie fantastique», a key work of romanticism and program music. It reflects the emotions of an unhappy lover: from euphoria to insanity, delusional imaginations of his own execution and of a bedevilment.

Only after the woman he loved, the actress Harriet Smithson, heard the piece with Hector Berlioz himself playing the timpani, she answered his letters; later they married.

The instruments on display here were made in France during the period 1830–1870, the time of Berlioz. Wind instruments at this time underwent important changes through numerous technical innovations.

The woodwinds were equipped by additional keys. Theobald Boehm created a new system for the flute, based on acoustic principles and so created the now standard «Boehm flute». Brass instruments got enabled to play all chromatic notes thanks to the newly invented valves and keys as well as the stopping technique.

Berlioz combined modern and traditional instruments: cornets with valves and ophicleides with keys in addition to natural trumpets and horns.

Special instruments such as piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, cornet, valved trombone or Wagner tuba as well as new percussion instruments were integrated into the orchestra, augmenting its palette of timbres.

Illustration: Hector Berlioz und his immense orchestras often got cartooned («Satyrischen Bild. Ein Konzert im Jahr 1846!» by Andreas Geiger).
The first page of Berlioz‘ manuscript for the program text of his symphony «An episode in the life of an artist; fantastic symphony in 5 parts» («Episode de la vie d′un artiste. Simphonie fantastique en 5 parties»).
The French flutist Louis Dorus was one of the first to play the Boehm system (and immediately made a minor change for the note g-sharp). This chart in his treatise «L’étude de la nouvelle flûte» (Paris, ca. 1837) depicts a flute by Godfroy ainé, identical to the one on display.

Instrumentation of the «Symphonie fantastique»

The «Symphonie fantastique» requires beside strings, harps and percussion numerous wind instruments with important parts: 1 piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 2 clarinets, 1 high Eb-clarinet, 4 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones and 2 ophicleides.

Berlioz' score. His instrumentation list shows numerous changes.

The rattlesnake – is it a musical instrument?

[answer]

Yes, it is the «Ophicleide». This name means «snake with keys» (Greek Ophys for snake and Kleis for key). «Snake» here means the serpent, a precursor of the ophicleide, which therefore is a «serpent with keys» – a rattlesnake!