Nick Jones wrote:

>I love this music.  I think Schuman was mining the Billings pieces simply
>as a source of themes to be used when writing a dynamic suite of '50s
>orchestra pieces.

Well actually, he wrote the piece back in the 1940s. It was originally
titled "William Billings Overture." First performance on 17 February
1944.  Years later he reworked the piece to fufil the commission from
Kostelanetz. The original version was in one movement.

I find it rather sad that it is probably his most popular work (along
with his orchestration of the Ives Variations on America) and yet is
not particularly characteristic of much of his work.

Karl