Riegger's music was scored for piano, wind instruments and percussion; Noguchi's set was made up primarily of curtains, platforms and stairs.
[2] According to the program notes, the dance is based upon "the advent and consequences of war" and concerned itself with the "contemporary situation", referring to the impending conflict in Europe.
[4] At the time, Graham's all-female troupe consisted of Anita Alvarez, Thelma Babbitz, Bonnie Bird, Dorothy Bird, Ethel Butler, Aza Ceskin, Jane Dudley, Frieda Flier, Marie Marchowsky, Sophie Maslow, Marjorie Mazia, May O'Donnell, Kathleen Slagle, Gertrude Schurr, Anna Sokolow and Mildred Wile.
[6] Following the premiere, The New York Herald critic described Chronicle as superior to Panorama, "Miss Graham's previous attempt at an extended choreographic work with historical and sociological implications" and pointed "the way to brilliant future accomplishments" but did not fully succeed.
The New York Times reviewer John Martin wrote that Graham "not only made revisions in its choreography and costuming, but actually managed to alter its general direction and manner of functioning."
In its "second incarnation" the critic described the opening solo as "ominous and gripping", Dances After Catastrophe as having "great power" and containing "under their surface of defeat and suffering the most eloquent indications of protest and rebellion.
Subtitled Devastation - Homelessness - Exile, the dance is a portrait of the human condition born out of the Great Depression and of Graham's response to the Spanish Civil War.
Its form is completely abstract: the choreography is focused on one woman...who was constantly bypassed by lines of 12 other women in black..." She also noted that although the piece was made during a specific historical era, it has broader implications.
"Seemingly picking up contrapuntal elements in Riegger’s score, the choreography conveys the desperation of the masses, the pain of isolation, the loneliness of despair.