Don Gillis's Symphony No 5½: Music for the People Page: 2
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Morrison, Sean. Don Gillis's Symphony No. 5%2: Music for the People. Master of Music
(Musicology), May 2013, 50 pp., 7 figures, bibliography, 56 titles.
Don Gillis wrote Symphony No. 5%2 (1947) in order to reconcile the American public with
modern art music. By synthesizing jazz (as well as other American folk idioms), singable
melodies, and humor, and then couching them into symphonic language, Gillis produced a work
that lay listeners could process and enjoy. The piece was an immediate success and was played
by orchestras across the globe, but it did not retain this popularity and it eventually faded from
relevancy. This study focuses on elements that contributed to the initial efficacy and ultimate
decline of the work. Due to its pervasive popular influences, Symphony No. 5%2 is a crystallized
representation of time in which it was written, and it soon became dated. Don Gillis did not
harbor the idea that Symphony No. 5%2 would grant him great wealth or musical immortality; he
had a more pragmatic goal in mind. He used every musical element at his disposal to write a
symphonic work that would communicate directly with the American people via a musical
language they would understand. He was successful in this regard, but the dialogue ended soon
after mid-century.
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Morrison, Sean. Don Gillis's Symphony No 5½: Music for the People, thesis, May 2013; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc271867/m1/2/: accessed June 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .