Variations: Aldous Huxley in memoriam is Igor Stravinsky's last major orchestral composition, written in 1963–64.
Stravinsky began work on the Variations in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in July 1963, and completed the composition in Hollywood, California, on 28 October 1964.
[1][2] The score is dedicated to the memory of Stravinsky's close friend Aldous Huxley, who died on 22 November 1963 (the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated), when composition of the Variations was in progress.
[1] The central feature of the Variations is a duodecet, or twelve-part invention, which is divided into three parts, separated by contrasting episodes and each with a different scoring: twelve solo violins, ten solo violas with two double basses, and twelve winds (two flutes, alto flute, the oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, and horn).
Metrically, this invention uses a regularly recurring succession of 48 + 38 + 58 bars, with each of the three large sections containing four of these three-bar units.