Elegy for J.F.K.
After the outbreak of World War II and his emigration to Los Angeles, California, in 1939, Stravinsky continued to work within the neo-classical framework he had adopted since about 1920 (following his Russian period of 1907–1919), but beginning in the early 1950s turned to various serial techniques, which he used until his death in 1971.The piece is in ternary form, just like the poem, meaning that material is repeated in the first and last nine measures.Various compositional elements suggest the severity of the topic such as the frequent use of da capo, the perfect fifth D♯–A♯ in the clarinets from mm.Stravinsky composed the vocal line first, only adding the accompaniment afterward—a working method he likened to Schoenberg's in the Phantasie for violin and piano.As in all twelve-tone music, there is a mathematical relationship between the prime, inverted, and retrograde series.