[1] Kent Nagano commissioned a full-length work for choir and orchestra and did not make any content restrictions.

[9] Widmann juxtaposes word with deed, construction with destruction, love with hate and religious traditions with the ideals of enlightenment.

[17] The music of this section is partly taken from Scene II "Flood and Star Terror" of Widmann's opera Babylon.

[18] The flood myth of Sumerian narratives, also manifested in the Epic of Gilgamesh, likely references an event around 6700 BC.

[22] The strict setting of Dies irae represents the impending apocalypse with the clash of good and evil and gods last judgement.

[e] Widmann sets verses of the poem to music, that Beethoven didn't use ("Destroy our book of guilt!

[f][27] Modern Zeitgeist is represented by an alphabet rap of the children's choir ("Facebook, Google, NATO").

Widmann selected a variety of texts[14] from different centuries, including the libretti of his operas Das Gesicht im Spiegel and Babylon:[1] and from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Bible and Mass.

Widmann's oratorio ARCHE had its world premiere on 13 January 2017 on the occasion of the opening festivities of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

[39] Eleonore Büning, reviewer of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, wrote about the enthusiasm of the audience, and that Widmann's splendid, richly orchestrated music breaks all genre and style boundaries.