Symphony instruments, 19th century symphonies were gradually augmented with more string players and more wind parts, so that the orchestra grew substantially in sheer numbers, as concert halls likewise grew. At the beginning of the 20th century, Gustav Mahler wrote long, large-scale symphonies. His Eighth Symphony, for example, was composed in 1906 and is nicknamed the "Symphony of a Thousand" because of the large number of voices required to perform the work. Additionally, his Third Symphony is one of the longest regularly performed symphonies at around 100 minutes in length for most performances. The 20th century also saw further diversification in
A Colour Symphony and Eugene Goossens to write a piece each. Howells wrote "Sine Nomine" for wordless chorus, which was not given its second performance until his centenary year 70 years later, in 1992. Goossens wrote a piece called "Silence" for chorus and orchestra. Elgar's own contribution was his orchestration of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Fantasia and Fugue in C minor". Bliss decided to write a symphony, but was at first undecided what the theme or character of the work would be. He could not get started for some weeks. One day, by chance, he came across a book on heraldry in which he