 For his orchestral suite "Aladdin", one of his early successes, he studied the music he heard in San Francisco's Chinatown, and used oboes, muted trumpets, and mandolins to imitate Chinese instruments.His "New England Symphony" is based on themes found in bird songs (the "andante" portion), as well as American Indian and Puritan music.For incidental music to a New York production of "Ben-Hur" in 1899, he based his composition on Greek modes.