Dies irae
"Dies irae" (
It is a medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic. The poem describes the Last Judgment, the trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames.
It is best known from its use in the Roman Rite Requiem (Mass for the Dead or Funeral Mass). An English version is found in various Anglican Communion service books.
The first melody set to these words, a Gregorian chant, is one of the most quoted in musical literature, appearing in the works of many composers. The final couplet, Pie Jesu, has been often reused as an independent song.
Use in the Roman liturgy
The "Dies irae" has been used in the Roman Rite liturgy as the sequence for the Requiem Mass for centuries, as made evident by the important place it holds in musical settings such as those by Mozart and Verdi. It appears in the Roman Missal of 1962, the last edition before the implementation of the revisions that occurred after the Second Vatican Council. As such, it is still heard in churches where the Tridentine Latin liturgy is celebrated. It also formed part of the pre-conciliar liturgy of All Souls' Day.
In the reforms to the Catholic Church's Latin liturgical rites ordered by the Second Vatican Council, the "Consilium for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy", the Vatican body charged with drafting and implementing the reforms (1969–70), eliminated the sequence as such from funerals and other Masses for the Dead. A leading figure in the post-conciliar liturgical reforms, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, explains the rationale of the Consilium:
They got rid of texts that smacked of a negative spirituality inherited from the
resurrection.[3]
"Dies irae", slightly edited, remains in use ad libitum as a hymn in the Liturgy of the Hours on All Souls' Day and during the last week before Advent, for which it is divided into three parts for the Office of Readings, Lauds and Vespers, with the insertion of a doxology after each part.[4]
Indulgence
In the
Text
The Latin text below is taken from the Requiem Mass in the 1962
Original | Approved adaptation | Formal equivalence
| |
---|---|---|---|
I | Dies iræ, dies illa, |
Day of wrath and doom impending! |
|
II | Quantus tremor est futurus, |
Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth, |
How great will be the quaking, |
III | Tuba, mirum spargens sonum |
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth; |
|
IV | Mors stupebit, et natura, |
Death is struck, and nature quaking, |
Death and nature will marvel, |
V | Liber scriptus proferetur, |
Lo, the book, exactly worded, |
The written book will be brought forth, |
VI | Iudex ergo cum sedebit, |
When the Judge his seat attaineth, |
When therefore the Judge will sit, |
VII | Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? |
What shall I, frail man, be pleading? |
What then shall I, poor wretch [that I am], say? |
VIII | Rex tremendæ maiestatis, |
King of Majesty tremendous, |
King of fearsome majesty, |
IX | Recordare, Iesu pie, |
Think, kind Jesu! — my salvation |
Remember, merciful Jesus, |
X | Quærens me, sedisti lassus: |
Faint and weary, Thou hast sought me, |
Seeking me, You rested, tired: |
XI | Iuste Iudex ultionis, |
Righteous Judge, for sin's pollution |
Just Judge of vengeance, |
XII | Ingemisco, tamquam reus: |
Guilty, now I pour my moaning, |
I sigh, like the guilty one: |
XIII | Qui Mariam absolvisti, |
Through the sinful woman shriven, |
You Who absolved Mary, |
XIV | Preces meæ non sunt dignæ: |
Worthless are my prayers and sighing, |
My prayers are not worthy: be not burned up by the everlasting fire .
|
XV | Inter oves locum præsta, |
With Thy sheep a place provide me, |
Grant me a place among the sheep, |
XVI | Confutatis maledictis, |
When the wicked are confounded, |
Once the cursed have been silenced, |
XVII | Oro supplex et acclinis, |
Low I kneel, with heart's submission, |
[Humbly] kneeling and bowed I pray, |
XVIII | Lacrimosa dies illa, |
Ah! that day of tears and mourning, |
Tearful [will be] that day, |
XIX | Pie Iesu Domine, |
Lord, all-pitying, Jesus blest, |
Merciful Lord Jesus, |
Because the last two stanzas differ markedly in structure from the preceding stanzas, some scholars consider them to be an addition made in order to suit the great poem for liturgical use. The penultimate stanza,
In the liturgical reforms of 1969–71, stanza 19 was deleted and the poem divided into three sections: 1–6 (for Office of Readings), 7–12 (for Lauds) and 13–18 (for Vespers). In addition, "Qui Mariam absolvisti" in stanza 13 was replaced by "Peccatricem qui solvisti" so that that line would now mean, "You who absolved the sinful woman". This was because modern scholarship denies the common mediæval identification of the woman taken in adultery with Mary Magdalene, so Mary could no longer be named in this verse. In addition, a doxology is given after stanzas 6, 12 and 18:[4]
Original | Approved adaptation | Formal equivalence |
---|---|---|
O tu, Deus majestatis, |
O God of majesty |
Manuscript sources
The text of the sequence is found, with slight verbal variations, in a 13th-century manuscript in the
Inspiration
A major inspiration of the hymn seems to have come from the Vulgate translation of Zephaniah 1:15–16:
Dies iræ, dies illa, dies tribulationis et angustiæ, dies calamitatis et miseriæ, dies tenebrarum et caliginis, dies nebulæ et turbinis, dies tubæ et clangoris super civitates munitas et super angulos excelsos. |
That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high bulwarks. (Douay–Rheims Bible) |
Other images come from the Book of Revelation, such as Revelation 20:11–15 (the book from which the world will be judged), Matthew 25:31–46 (sheep and goats, right hand, contrast between the blessed and the accursed doomed to flames), 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (trumpet), 2 Peter 3:7 (heaven and earth burnt by fire), and Luke 21:26 ("men fainting with fear... they will see the Son of Man coming").
From the
Other translations
A number of English translations of the poem have been written and proposed for liturgical use. A very loose Protestant version was made by John Newton; it opens:
Day of judgment! Day of wonders!
Hark! the trumpet's awful sound,
Louder than a thousand thunders,
Shakes the vast creation round!
How the summons will the sinner's heart confound!
Jan Kasprowicz, a Polish poet, wrote a hymn entitled "Dies iræ" which describes the Judgment day. The first six lines (two stanzas) follow the original hymn's metre and rhyme structure, and the first stanza translates to "The trumpet will cast a wondrous sound".
The American writer Ambrose Bierce published a satiric version of the poem in his 1903 book Shapes of Clay, preserving the original metre but using humorous and sardonic language; for example, the second verse is rendered:
Ah! what terror shall be shaping
When the Judge the truth's undraping –
Cats from every bag escaping!
The Rev. Bernard Callan (1750–1804), an Irish priest and poet, translated it into Gaelic around 1800. His version is included in a Gaelic prayer book, The Spiritual Rose.[11]
Literary references
- Walter Scott used the first two stanzas in the sixth canto of his narrative poem "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" (1805).
- Cathedral" in the first part of his drama Faust(1808).
- Oscar Wilde's "Sonnet on Hearing the Dies Iræ Sung in the Sistine Chapel" (Poems, 1881), contrasts the "terrors of red flame and thundering" depicted in the hymn with images of "life and love".
- In Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera, Erik (the Phantom) has the chant displayed on the wall of his funereal bedroom.[12]
- It is the inspiration for the title and major theme of the 1964 novel Deus Iræ by Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny. The English translation is used verbatim in Dick's novel Ubik two years later.
Music
Musical settings
The words of "Dies iræ" have often been set to music as part of the Requiem service. In some settings, it is broken up into several movements; in such cases, "Dies iræ" refers only to the first of these movements, the others being titled according to their respective incipits.
The original setting was a sombre plainchant (or Gregorian chant). It is in the Dorian mode.[13] In four-line neumatic notation, it begins:
In 5-line staff notation:
The earliest surviving polyphonic setting of the Requiem by Johannes Ockeghem does not include "Dies iræ". The first polyphonic settings to include the "Dies iræ" are by Engarandus Juvenis (1490) and Antoine Brumel (1516) to be followed by many composers of the renaissance. Later, many notable choral and orchestral settings of the Requiem including the sequence were made by composers such as Charpentier, Delalande, Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, Britten and Stravinsky. Giovanni Battista Martini ended his set of (mostly humorous) 303 canons with a set of 20 on extracts of the sequence poem.[14][15]
Musical quotations
The traditional Gregorian melody has been used as a
- Thomas Adès – Totentanz[16] (2013)
- Charles-Valentin Alkan – Souvenirs: Trois morceaux dans le genre pathétique, Op. 15 (No. 3: Morte) (1837)
- Eric Ball – "Resurgam"[17] (1950)
- Hector Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique (1830), Requiem (1837)
- Ernest Bloch – Suite Symphonique[18] (1944)
- Johannes Brahms – Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118, No. 6, Intermezzo in E-flat minor[19] (1893)
- Antoine Brumel - Missa pro defunctis (before 1519)
- Caprichos de Goya, Op. 195: "XII. No hubo remedio" (plate 24)[20](1961)
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier – Prose des morts – Dies iræ H.12 (1670)
- George Crumb – Black Angels (1970)
- Luigi Dallapiccola – Canti di prigionia
- Michael Daugherty – Metropolis Symphony 5th movement, "Red Cape Tango";[21] Dead Elvis for bassoon and chamber ensemble[citation needed] (1993)
- Michel-Richard Delalande, Dies irae S.31 (1690 & 1712)
- Ernő Dohnányi– no. 4 (E-flat minor) of "Four Rhapsodies" for Piano, op. 11
- Alberto Ginastera – Bomarzo, Op. 34 (1967)[22]
- Alexander Glazunov – From the Middle Ages Suite, No. 2 "Scherzo", Op. 79 (1902)
- Benjamin Godard – Dante opera, act 4, No. 35 Suite du Finale "Partons !" (1890)
- Charles Gounod – Faust opera, act 4 (1859)
- Kirk Hammet – The Incantation (5:57-6:35) on the EP Portals(2022)
- Joseph Haydn – Symphony No. 103, "The Drumroll" (1795)
- Gustav Holst – The Planets, movement 5, "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age"[23]
- Arthur Honegger – La Danse des Morts, H. 131[24] (1938)
- Hans Huber quotes the melody in the second movement ("Funeral March") of his Symphony No. 3 in C major,[25] Op. 118 (Heroic, 1908).
- Alexander Kastalsky – Requiem for Fallen Brothers, movements 3 and 4 (1917) [26]
- Aram Khachaturian – Symphony No. 2 (1944)
- Teofil Klonowski – Preludes on Polish Church Hymns: Dies Irae [27](1867)
- György Ligeti – Le Grand Macabre (1974–77)
- Franz Liszt – Totentanz (1849)
- Jean-Baptiste Lully – Dies iræ LWV 64/1 (1683)
- Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 2, movements 1 and 5 (1888–94)
- Jules Massenet – Eve[27] (1874)
- Modest Mussorgsky – Songs and Dances of Death, No. 3 "Trepak" (1875)
- Edvard Mirzoyan – Introduction and Perpetuum Mobile (1957)
- Nikolai Myaskovsky – Symphony No. 6, Op. 23 (1921–23); Piano Sonata No.2, Op.13
- Vítězslav Novák – used the theme near the end of his May Symphony
- Sergei Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 1 (1891); Symphony No. 1, Op. 13 (1895); Six moments musicaux, Op. 16 No. 3 (1896); Suite No. 2, Op. 17 (1901); Symphony No. 2, Op. 27 (1906–07); Piano sonata No. 1 (1908); Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 (1908); The Bells choral symphony, Op. 35 (1913); Études-Tableaux, Op. 39 No. 2, 5, 7 (1916); Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 40 (1926); Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (1934); Symphony No. 3, Op. 44 (1935–36); Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (1940)
- Ottorino Respighi – quoted near the end of the second movement of Impressioni Brasiliane (Brazilian Impressions)[28] (1927)
- Camille Saint-Saëns – Danse Macabre; Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony), Requiem (1878)
- Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 14; Aphorisms, Op. 13 – No. 7, "Dance of Death" (1969)
- Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji – Sequentia cyclica super "Dies iræ" ex Missa pro defunctis (1948–49) and nine other works[29]
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Modern Greek Song (In Dark Hell) Op. 16 No. 6[27] (1872); 6 Pieces on a Single Theme op 21[27] (1873); Orchestral Suite No. 3[30] (1884); Manfred Symphony [31] (1885)
- Eugène Ysaÿe – Solo Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Obsession"[32] (1923)
- Bernd Alois Zimmermann – Musique pour les soupers du roi Ubu
- Antonio Estévez - Cantata Criolla [33](1954)
It has also been used in many film scores and popular works, such as:
- Francis Monkman – additional track "Dies Irae" on Sky (1979 studio album by Sky)' (1979)
- Hugo Friedhofer – opening scene of Between Heaven and Hell (film)' ' (1956)
- Bathory – on album Blood Fire Death (1988)
- Rachel Elkind – Opening theme for The Shining[34](1980)
- The Newton Brothers - Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining (2019)[35]
- Danny Elfman – "Making Christmas" from The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
- Gerald Fried – Opening theme for The Return of Dracula, 1958
- Diamanda Galás – Masque of the Red Death: Part I – The Divine Punishment
- Jerry Goldsmith – The Mephisto Waltz[36] (1971)
- Donald Grantham – Baron Cimetiére's Mambo[37] (2004)
- Bernard Herrmann quoted in the main theme for Citizen Kane[citation needed] (1941)
- Bernard Herrmann – Jason and the Argonauts (1963) (quoted during the scene of the scattering of the hydra's teeth)
- Gottfried Huppertz – Score for Metropolis (1927)
- Jethro Tull – The instrumental track "Elegy" featured on the band's 12th studio album Stormwatch is based on the melody.[38]
- Into the Unknown"[39](2019)
- Harry Manfredini – main title theme for Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
- The Melvins – on their album "Nude with Boots" (2008)
- Stephen Schwartz – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) soundtrack; "The Bells of Notre Dame" features passages from the first and second stanzas as lyrics.[40]
- Ennio Morricone – "Penance" from his score for The Mission[41] (1986)
- Lionel Newman – Compulsion
- Leonard Rosenman – the main theme of The Car (1977)
- Stephen Sondheim – Sweeney Todd – quoted in "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" and the accompaniment to "Epiphany"[42] (1979)
- score for Home Alone[43] (1990) and quoted in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope(1977) when Luke discovers that Imperial Stormtroopers have killed his uncle and aunt.
- Hans Zimmer – "The Rightful King" from The Lion King soundtrack, "Rock House Jail" from The Rock soundtrack, and "House Atreides" from the 2021 Dune adaptation.
- Guy Gross – "Salve me Lacrimosa" from the American-Australian television series Farscape
- Cristobal Tapia de Veer – The White Lotus opening credits
- Symphony X – Their album V – The New Mythology Suite references this work multiple times, such as in the song "A Fool's Paradise".
References
- ^ a b Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- .
- .
- ^ OL 20815631M. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ (S. Paen. Ap., 9 March 1934). As cited in "Indulgences for the deceased: General regulations and for the month of November" (in Italian). 2014-11-02.
- ^ (Manual of Indulgences, Section 29)
- (PDF) from the original on 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ The full text of Dies Irae (Irons, 1912) at Wikisource
- ^ The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. New York City: Church Pension Fund. 1940. p. 468. Archived from the original on 2016-08-06. Retrieved 2022-03-15 – via Hymnary.org.
- ^ "The Order for Funerals for use by the Ordinariates erected under the auspices of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum cœtibus" (PDF). Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter (in English and Latin). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-02-14. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- .
- .
- ISBN 9781465485489.
- ^ Martini, Giovanni. Canoni. manuscript. pp. 134–148. Archived from the original on 2022-10-04. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Ellis, Gabriel (2018-04-05). "Breaking the canon: Padre Martini's vision for the canonic genre". Stanford Libraries Blog.
- from the original on 2022-03-16. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ "Pontins Championship 2003 – Test Piece Reviews: Resurgam". 4barsrest.com. Archived from the original on 2021-05-26. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
- ISBN 0-8108-4884-8, retrieved 2022-03-16
- AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
- ^ Wade, Graham. "Tedesco: 24 Caprichos de Goya, Op. 195". Naxos. Archived from the original on 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ "About this Recording – 8.559635 – Daugherty, M.: Metropolis Symphony / Deus ex Machina (T. Wilson, Nashville Symphony, Guerrero)", Naxos, archived from the original on 2018-08-06, retrieved 2022-03-16
- ^ Fischerman, Diego (2003-06-08). "El renacimiento" (in Spanish).
- OL 28263230M.
- OCLC 16754628. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ Barnett, Rob. "Hans Huber" (review). Archived from the original on 2021-10-31. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ "Kastalsky, A.: Requiem for Fallen Brothers (Dennis, Beutel, Cathedral Choral Society, The Clarion Choir, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Slatkin)". Naxos. Archived from the original on 2020-08-09. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ a b c d "Quotes – Musical Quotations of the Dies Irae plainchant melody". Retrieved 2022-06-14.
- ^ Johnson, Edward (May 1984). "Respighi – Church Windows / Brazilian Impressions, CHAN 8317" (PDF) (Media notes). Chandos Records. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-16. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ^ Roberge, Marc-André. "Citations of the Dies irae". Sorabji Resource Site. Université Laval. Archived from the original on 2021-10-27. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-15.
- ^ Lintgen, Arthur. "Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony". Fanfare (review). Archived from the original on 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- LA Phil. Archivedfrom the original on 2021-05-12. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
- ^ "Cantata Criolla". Hollywood Bowl. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-8564-6 – via Google Books.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Supernatural Reality: The Sound of New Hollywood Horror in Count Yorga, The Mephisto Waltz, The Exorcist and The Omen". Diabolique Magazine. 2016-06-13. Archived from the original on 2020-09-28. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- ISBN 9781579993856, retrieved 2022-03-16
- ^ Webb, Martin (2019). And the Stormwatch Brews…. Stormwatch: The 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (Media notes). Chrysalis Records. Archived from the original on 2022-03-16. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- from the original on 2022-02-02. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
- ^ Chorus, David Ogden Stiers, Paul Kandel & Tony Jay – The Bells of Notre Dame (in English and Latin), archived from the original on 2021-10-16, retrieved 2021-05-12
- ^ Tagg, Philip. "Musemes from Morricone's music for The Mission" (PDF) (analysis). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-11-12. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
- LCCN 86045165 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Hoyt, Alia (2018-03-22), Why Sountracks love the Day of Wrath Theme (analysis)
External links
- Media related to Dies Irae at Wikimedia Commons
- Works related to Dies Irae at Wikisource
- "Dies Iræ", FranciscanArchive. Includes two Latin versions and a literal English translation.
- Day of Wrath, O Day of Mourning (translation by William Josiah Irons)
- A website cataloging Musical Quotations of the Dies Irae plainchant melody in secular classical music