The work was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra with contributions from Johnson & Higgins for the bicentennial of the United States Constitution.
It was composed from September 1986 through April 1987 and premiered October 27, 1988, with the Philadelphia Orchestra performing under conductor Riccardo Muti.
[1][2] The piece was a finalist for the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Music, losing to William Bolcom's 12 New Etudes for Piano.
Jagged rhythms à la Bartók fuse with precision-cut Stravinskian phrases, and the work’s commodious textures recall Lutosławski’s own Concerto for Orchestra.
"[5] Donal Henahan of The New York Times also compared the music to that of other 20th-century composers and gave the work lukewarm praise, remarking, "Orchestration is a strong point of Mr. Stucky.