The piece was commissioned by the Mannheim Orchestra to celebrate its anniversary.
The title refers to a famous technique of the 18th-century Mannheim school a rapid ascending passage arpeggio that culminates in a crescendo.
Corigliano combined this historical term with his childhood imagination imagining a huge `wedding cake rocket` in which Baron Munchausen is launched into space.
During the rockets flight allusions and direct quotes from works by I. Stamitz Mozart Symphony No. 40 Wagner Ride of the Valkyries The Mastersingers of Nuremberg Brahms and R. Strauss Till Eulenspiegel can be heard.
The piece begins with the `sound of a lit match` and a 12-tone `wick` then the `engine` in the form of a slow Albertian bass gains power the rocket takes off reaches the zenith and falls back to earth.