The Carnival Overture was written by Antonín Dvořák in 1891. It is part of a "Nature, Life and Love" trilogy of overtures, forming the second part, "Life". The other two parts are In Nature's Realm, Op. 91 ("Nature") and Othello, Op. 93 ("Love"). Biographer Otakar Šourek wrote that "he wished in this cycle to draw in overture-form musical pictures of three of the most powerful impressions to which the human soul is subjected: the impression of the solitary, wrapped about by the exalted stillness of the summer night; the impression of a man seized into the joyous vortex of life, and finally the feeling of a man in the power of a violent love poisoned by jealousy. In more concise terms: to present nature itself, free acceptance of it, and distortion of it."

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, is a piano concerto composed by Frédéric Chopin in Autumn 1829. Chopin composed the piece before he had finished his formal education, at around 20 years of age. It was first performed on 17 March 1830, in Warsaw, Poland, with the composer as soloist. It was the second of his piano concertos to be published (after the Piano Concerto No. 1), and so was designated as "No. 2", even though it was written first.

Beach began composing her symphony in November 1894. Although Beach would later become more accepting of music from North American traditions—such as Native American themes—Beach chose to incorporate songs of European influence into her early works. One such (Celtic) tune was her song entitled, "Dark Is the Night!" which she set to the words of the English poet William Ernest Henley. She borrowed this song for her symphony. Beach was heavily influenced by her contemporary Antonín Dvořák; naturally, she looked to Dvořák's compositions and publicized philosophies on American music while composing her symphony. Though Dvořák's nationality was Czech, he was in the United States for much of 1892–1895 as head of the National Conservatory in New York. He represented American art music in the late nineteenth century—specifically through his New World Symphony and American String Quartet. Dvořák wove pentatonic scales from Native American and African-American music and rhythms of Slavic dances along with his European romantic style to create works unique to America—the melting pot. The "native" elements were not as readily embraced by Beach. Upon hearing of the derivations of Dvořák's New World Symphony, Beach heartily responded, "[w]e of the North should be far more likely to be influenced by old English, Scotch or Irish songs, inherited with our literature from our ancestors." When her symphony premiered, Beach was barely 30 years old and in the throes of forming her own compositional style; in contrast, her later years brought maturity and an openness to infuse Native American, specifically Inuit, and African-American songs into her music.