Eschewing the development of new forms in Western music, Samuel Barber turned to traditional harmonies and forms. On the advice of Arturo Toscanini, he arranged a movement of his String Quartet in B minor into the Adagio for Strings. The work gained well-deserved fame, eventually overshadowing the original work.

In his Symphony 'from the New World' , Antonín Dvořák expresses a palpable sense of attraction for this new country, as seen through the eyes of Europeans at the end of the 19^th century.