The first movement, 'Nightfall,' is a dramatic essay in triads and 'melodic wedges' -- melodies which unfold in the manner of a palidrome. Each character introduces himself and presents his opening statement. The second movement, according to Hagen, 'is a treatment of a melody that I wrote in 1980 while enjoying a glass of wine in my favourite restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin. Reaching back into my sketchbook for the melody was an excercise in nostalgia rewarded -- the tune touched off many memories of my student days there as I dressed it in new, chromatic harmonies.' The third movement, 'Midnight,' is a three way quarrel between the horn, a solo cello, and the massed violins. Each is in a different key. The fourth movement, 'Aubade,' is a happy-sad jazz waltz for the horn, accompanied by the strings. An 'aubade' is, traditionally, a song of or about lovers separating at dawn. Soprano saxophone joins the horn in a dreamy obbligato. The final movement is the fastest, the longest, and the most difficult. Heraldic fanfares in the solo horn and in the winds are supported by chunky string writing. The concerto ends with a joyous, over-the-top virtuoso cadenza for the horn.

The concerto was composed during a residency at the Rockefeller's Villa Serbelloni, in Bellagio, Italy during the Autumn of 1993. Completed on 13 November 1993, the work was set aside until 1 November 1996, when it was premiered by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Soren Hermannsson, horn soloist, conducted by Music Director David Crosby, at the First Congregational Church of Madison, Wisconsin.