Essay No. 1 for Orchestra examines dissolution in music as a type of the dissolution of the human organism by cancer. A rhythmic motive of dotted quarter note, eighth note (repeated pitch), quarter note, quarter note, and dotted half note is applied to the prime ordering of the pitch-class set {0 1 3 5}, and is introduced in the tetrachord B-natural, A-sharp, F-sharp, G-sharp. The pitch-class set is then cast in inversion, in retrograde, and in retrograde inversion throughout many other pitch-classes. Since the pitch set is taken from a diatonic tetrachord, much of the music is melodic; however, the set informs the pitch content for most of the composition.

A poignant chorale in the Lydian mode on E in the strings is the first statement of the pitch set, leading to a brief pastoral passage and to melancholic tunes in the solo trumpet and solo trombone, both separated by false starts of the opening chorale, first in the winds alone, and then scored as at the first. In the aggressive development which follows, the intervals between the pitch classes in the set are gradually diminished until at last the pitches of the motive are separated by quarter tones. A bold declaration of the opening chorale again in the Lydian mode on E dissolves gradually to the melancholy tunes first stated by solo brasses. Tremolo strings in divisi dissolve the tetrachord still more. Ultimately, the strings close in ominous quiet on their lowest open strings. The C major triad which these pitches produce is in its first inversion; the relentless repetition of the low E in the Contrabasses, timpani, piano, (doubled on the bass drum) creates a tension between the C major first inversion chord in the entire strings and the E major tonality implicit in the overtone series on E.