This piece takes its title from the eponymous poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Whittall had originally intended to keep his distance expressively from Poe's Gothic world, Poe’s central image – a decaying city in the dimming West ruled by death, slowly sinking into watery oblivion – was a powerful one. Perhaps inevitably, the piece took on shades of the slow-motion humanitarian disaster unfolding on Europe’s southern shores, bringing out undertones of desperation, pursuit, obsessive, elegiac reflection, and ultimately despair as it slides into the depths.

The City in the Sea was commissioned by the Finnish Viola Society for the 2017 Tampere National Viola Competition.

The City in the Sea (kaupunki meressä) on saanut inspiraationsa Edgar Allan Poen runosta. Säveltäjän tarkoituksena ei ollut tehdä musiikillista vastinetta Poen mystisestä, goottihenkisestä runosta - veteen vajoava, rapistuva kaupunki länsimaisen rappion symbolina - mutta Poen runon oli kuva kuitenkin voimakas, ja päätyi teokseen sävelkieleen sen hitaina liikkeinä, jotka lopulta vajoavat syvyyteen.
The City in the Sea oli Suomen alttoviuluseuran tilausteos Tampereen kansalliseen alttoviulukilpailuun 2017.