"Jackie's Song I composed Jackie's Song as a prelude to my opera Jackie O (1995-97). I imagine Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) as a solitary and melancholy figure, after the assassination of her first husband John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1962. My composition is a song without words, for chamber ensemble and solo cello. A mournful cello line is performed by the soloist, who plays in the extreme upper range of the instrument. The solo gradually ascends to a prolonged high C that is suddenly cut short by a riveting snare drum rim-shot. This elegiac theme, comprised of a tritone and a perfect fifth interval, is the compositional core for many of the melodies and harmonies of the composition; later, it became the leitmotif of Jackie in my opera." Michael Daugherty