Recognized and followed by many modern composers and musicians, John Alden Carpenter was performed worldwide during his lifetime. Carpenter was the first composer who combined popular song and jazz with the traditional classical form. Many of the world’s greatest conductors, like Bruno Walter, Fritz Reiner, and others, performed Carpenter’s orchestral music. Carpenter’s songs were performed by the legendary Alma Gluck and Kirsten Flagstad. Carpenter’s ballet Skyscrapers written for Dyagilev is considered equal to the ballets of Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Many of Carpenter’s late works, Sea Drift and the Violin Concerto were commissioned by Whitman.