The French government had commissioned Hector Berlioz…

The French government had commissioned Hector Berlioz to write The Requiem, a work for large orchestra.

Performed to favorable reviews in 1837, the piece requires on hundred and ten violins, an expanded brass section, sixteen timpani, and more than two hundred voices.

Berlioz’s opera Benvenuto Cellini opens in 1838 to dismal reception, however, mocked for its enormous chorus and huge orchestra.