Three Glorious Days was inspired by the guillotine gesture in "Marche au supplice" from Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz. The piece is named after the period of upheaval in France also known as the July Revolution. Incidentally, this event took place the same year that Berlioz completed fantastique, 1830. This particular "revolution" removed one royal family in favor of another, so not greatly changing the status quo–there would be another revolution in 1848. I wrote this piece during the 2012 presidential election, which had interesting parallels with the Three Glorious Days: President Obama's legitimacy was questioned and there was a growing dissatisfaction with the distribution of wealth. In the end, like the July Revolution, there was no real, great upheaval, just a return to an uneasy truce...