This is the second of Mr. Converse's symphonic poems, or "romances," based upon scenes in the "Endymion" of Keats (the first, "The Festival of Pan," is described in the preceding pages). "Endymion's Narrative" was composed in 1901. The following explanation of the purpose of the music was given by the composer at the time of the first performance of the work by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1903:
"... As I have remarked on the title-pages of these works, they were suggested by certain scenes from the poem. I meant by this that there was no desire or attempt to follow the text, slavishly and in detail, but merely to give a general reflection of its emotional phases. As a clew to 'Endymion's Narrative,' I would say that its idea was derived from the scene in the poem where Endymion, oppressed with melancholy feeling, and no longer cheered by the simple pleasures of his companions, is withdrawn from the Festival by Peona, his anxious sister, and led by her to a secluded part of the wood, where she strives to find the cause of his despondency and to soothe him with sisterly affection. Under her influence he reveals the cause of his sorrow. He then relates to her what seems to me the spiritual essence of the whole poem, the struggle of a mind possessed of an ideal beyond the common view, and yet bound by affection and devotion to conditions which confine and stifle its urging internal impulses.
"The piece begins with despondency and indecision. The hero is harassed by alluring glimpses of the ideal, and soothed by simple affection and love. There is a sort of dramatic growth of the various elements, until finally the ideal comes victorious out of the struggle, and the ungovernable impulse rushes exultantly on with the mad joy of determination." [32]