In addition to his operas, Fry wrote seven symphonies that have extra-musical themes. His "Santa Claus: Christmas Symphony" of 1853, which was very well received by audiences but derided by many of Fry's rival critics, may be the first orchestral use of the saxophone, invented barely a decade before. His 1854 "Niagara Symphony", written for Louis Jullien's orchestra, uses eleven timpani to create the roar of the waters, snare drums to reproduce the hiss of the spray, and a remarkable series of discordant, chromatic descending scales to reproduce the chaos of the falling waters as they crash onto the rocks.