# My complete Symphony 5 (Tragic)



## Roy Fuller (Apr 4, 2019)

Here is perhaps what might turn out to be my only tragic symphony, inspired by the Civil War letter of Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah. The challenge for me in this work was to turn Sullivan Ballou’s prose into poetry without destroying both the essence and substance of his letter, and I believe I have succeeded thanks to the power of music and a few minor manipulations.
We find this poetry in the last movement, sung by a male chorus with what I call the ‘Sarah’ theme. This theme first appears in a more militant guise as the ‘B’ theme of the 3rd movement, but then is transformed in the 4th movement, appearing first in the strings, then finally with the chorus.
The warlike 1st movement begins with a funeral dirge….and so the tragedy begins.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

I'm sure I would have finished with the following line "Sarah, do not mourn me dear; think I am gone, and wait for me, for we shall meet again" to finish in a more consolatory mood but I guess you wanted to remain tragic to the end and the last movement is indeed quite effective in this regard.


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## Roy Fuller (Apr 4, 2019)

dko22 said:


> I'm sure I would have finished with the following line "Sarah, do not mourn me dear; think I am gone, and wait for me, for we shall meet again" to finish in a more consolatory mood but I guess you wanted to remain tragic to the end and the last movement is indeed quite effective in this regard.


Yes, you are correct. Tragedy is not in my nature but I wanted to embrace it unequivocally in this symphony, knowing that good and noble men often die in war.


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## Billy (Sep 24, 2011)

I listened to it all with pleasure. Great job, Roy.


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