While many of the works of Ferruccio Busoni involve excursions in time—re-examining the works of old masters through a modern lens—a few of his works seek to traverse geographical distances as well. During a visit to the United States, Busoni had occasion to meet with one of his former students, Natalie Curtis, who had studied harmony with him in 1893. Curtis had since become a pioneer of American ethnomusicology, collecting songs from Native American tribes throughout North America. Reuniting with Busoni during his stateside visit, Curtis presented her former mentor with a volume containing her numerous transcriptions published in 1907. The gift inspired Busoni to compose a handful of substantial works, including the Red Indian Fantasy for piano and orchestra, Op. 44, which he dedicated to Curtis, and the Indian Diaries. The latter was divided into two books: the first, a set of four studies for piano, and the second, a study for strings, winds, and tympani.

Containing four individual pieces, Book I of the diaries bears a close relationship to the Red Indian Fantasy. The solo studies take as their starting point a number of melodies from Curtis' collection, including several that figured prominently in the Fantasy. In fact, the four pieces of Book I of the diary are ordered in such a way that their melodies are presented in the same order that they appear in the earlier work. The first, marked Allegretto affettuoso, un poco agitato, is based on a religious song of the Hopi. Mysterious and conflicted in character, it utilizes the half steps and minor thirds of the indigenous melody to foster a nervous tension. A similarly chromatic feel combined with nimble articulations lend an air of mystery to the second study, based on a Cheyenne war song. The third study combines melodies from two different sources, both of which had featured less prominently in the Red Indian Fantasy: the simple rising and falling arpeggio of a corn-grinding song of the Laguna Indians and the noble dotted rhythms of the Bluebird Song of the Pima. The final study begins with a serene and stately melody borrowed from a Passamaquoddy dance song, which is elaborately dressed in virtuosically ornate runs and a dark, evocative bass line that eventually descends portentously to the bottom of the piano's range in the piece's final moments.

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