He wrote the sort of melody that showed off each particular instrument to its best advantage. He studied them as if they were human beings, and he understood their characters and temperaments, what they could do and at what they would balk. He showed the possibilities of the choirs of wood wind instruments, a rich heritage for us today. The orchestra playing a piece of his, directed by him was matchless in its effect. _Effect_ was the keynote of his writings. As the first great master of tonal effect, he is unsurpassed, and his book on orchestration is still one of the most practical text books on the subject. Berlioz used the _idée fixe_ (fixed idea) or _leit-motif_, not as Wagner used it later, but quite definitely, twisting a theme in many ways to bring out different phases of the same subject. Thus, Berlioz founded the dramatic in music, without scenery and without words, which is the Symphonic Tone Poem. The majority of the people did not understand him any more than they understand Stravinsky today. His greatest work was his _Symphony Fantastic_ written in 1829, in which he used the _idée fixe_ to tell about the life of the artist, in true program music style for which he fought and almost bled. In _Harold in Italy_, he makes a departure by giving to the viola, the rôle of the “leading lady” which had not been done up to his day. He often used voices with the orchestra as he did in his tone poems _Romeo and Juliet_, and _The Damnation of Faust_. The noisy _Requiem_ is one of the finest things he did, and his overtures, the best of which is the _Benvenuto Cellini_, are fine works. The oratorio, _The Infancy of Christ_, written in classic style, was well received, but his operas never succeeded. He paved the way for new orchestral effects and prepared the ground for Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and all the other orchestral composers. He was a musical Byron, for he was more interesting than beautiful, more vivid than noble, a sincere _poseur_, faithful to his ideas and always searching for romance. [Illustration: _Hector Berlioz._ (_Father of the Tone Poem._) ] [Illustration: _Franz Liszt._ _Sympathetic Teacher, Composer, Pianist and Friend to Young Musicians._ ] He was well versed in literature, always carried Virgil in his pocket, and loved and admired Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, Walter Scott and other great writers on whose works he based many compositions. In his fascinating autobiography, he said, “The dominant qualities of my music are passionate expression, internal fire, rhythmic animation and unexpected change,” and he was right. And so we leave this romantic man, craving sensation in his life and in his music, exaggerated in word and tone, and thank him for what Daniel Gregory Mason calls, “His contribution to the unresting progress of art.”