Japanese Lilac -- whole branches dying

Our Japanese Lilac has recently begun to lose branches at a time. It has always looked a bit strained, but not like this. In the Spring we gave it a fertilizer stake and it was a very wet summer in our area. We also added manure mid-summer and a bit of plant food as we planted some vinca in the area. We've noticed that our vinca lawn has struggled in the area around this tree-- there must be some kind of connection.

I uploaded a photo of the tree to my profile.
Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!!

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