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charles ives did alot of musical quotes in his career (almost everything he did are quotes). this piece he wrote as a student of composition in yale. the first movement "allegro" is a sonata, like always. but he used the second theme of schuberts unfinished symphony as his first theme and the first as his second. the second movement "adagio molto" is inspired by dvoraks new world symphony which were written 5 years before (to that time), already really popular and famour for its "american style", although there werent really genuine american elements in it. he was a really big fan of modulation but he wasnt allowed to overdo it, so he wrote polytonality very hidden. the introduction is written in f-major, but the melody is playing in c-major, which explains the lydian 4th. he copied the orchestration from dvorak, even the mutes. he always did these kind of things, always modulation (some parts remind of beethoven if he keeps on modulation as transition). the last two movements "scherzo vivace" and "allegro molto" are not only fast but rhythmically complicated so the orchestra failed at the premiere. there he was inspired by tchaikovsky btw...