As important as orchestration is for composers during the compositional process, timbre in music has historically been given a role subsidiary to that of pitch and rhythm. Throughout this paper I look into the possible ways that the timbral element of music might be brought to the foreground. I will discuss concepts introduced by Arnold Schoenberg which had significant impact on timbre theory as well as Schoenberg’s Five Orchestra Pieces, op. 16 no. 3 which makes use of timbral variation to an unprecedented degree. In closing, I will make an argument about the possibility which the timbral element of music has to bolster structural forms (as evidenced by Anton Webern’s Symphonie, op. 21, mvt I).