The piece was composed in 1936 and was premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Leslie Heward in 1939.
[1][2] The work commemorates the genocide of the Armenian people, including Hovhaness's paternal family, during the Ottoman Turkish occupation of World War I.
The work's U.S. premiere was given on 6 December 1942 by the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski.
[5] Response to the premiere was positive, with Leslie Heward heralding Hovhaness as a "young genius.
Reviewing a recording of Exile by Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Anthony Burton of BBC Music Magazine wrote, "Hovhaness’s astonishing productivity is achieved at the cost of self-criticism: the folk-like melodies can all too often seem four-square and predictable, the chromatic decoration banal doodling, the technically proficient fugues simply note-spinning."