Like its predecessor, the First Orchestral Set, Three Places in New England, it was not conceived as a single entity but rather assembled from separate compositions.
"[2] The final movement From Hanover Square North, At the End of a Tragic Day, The Voice of the People Again Arose, recalls Ives's experience of May 7, 1915, the day that the news broke of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, preceding the United States' entry into the First World War.
[3] According to his own memoirs, the crowd waiting on the platform of New York's Hanover Square station spontaneously broke into the gospel hymn In the Sweet By and By – a tune that was being played on a barrel organ on the street below.
From there the music develops with melodies overlaying one another, including Foster's Massa's in the Cold Ground and My Old Kentucky Home.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus gave the world premiere performance on February 11, 1967, with Morton Gould conducting in Orchestra Hall; the same forces made the first recording the following week on February 15 in Chicago's Medinah Temple for RCA Records.