Dirge
A dirge (
The English word dirge is derived from the Latin Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam ("Direct my way in your sight, O Lord my God"), the first words of the first antiphon (a short chant in Christian liturgy) in the Matins of the Office for the Dead, based on Psalm 5. The original meaning of dirge in English referred to this office, particularly as it appeared within breviaries and primer prayer books.[6][7]: 71 [8]
History
In the late
Among the most consistent devotions within these primers was the
Prior to the English Reformation, translated sections from the Dirige were among the most circulated vernacular portions of the Bible available in England as recitation by laity of these prayers was common at funerals and gravesites.[9]: 44, 79–80 Formal liturgical saying of the Dirige–then legally required to be in Latin[10]–persisted through the first half of the 16th century, with occasional requirements that certain proportions of a parish church's congregation be present for such events.[9]: 135
The word "dirge" gradually came to be associated with the variety of funeral hymns it describes today. Among the earliest was a pre-Reformation funeral lament from the
While private devotionals were proliferated under the Reform-minded Elizabeth, the number of permitted public liturgical devotions were targeted for curtailment.[14] The Dirige was retained within the Elizabethan primer over Protestant objections to prayers for the dead and there remained resistance to the public liturgical performance of the devotion.[7]: 80 In 1560 and 1561, episcopal visitors of the Church of England observed with disapproval the continued practice of clerks singing psalms in "dirge-like" fashion.[9]: 571
Since their evolution away from Christian usage, some dirges have intentionally been written to be set to music, while others have been set or reset at later dates. Among the latter cases is the "Dirge for Fidele", a portion of William Shakespeare's play Cymbeline that was later set to music by multiple composers.[3]
Notable dirges
- "A Dirge", by Christina Rossetti[2]
- "A Dirge", by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- "Dirge for Fidele", by William Shakespeare from Cymbeline, set to music several times, including by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi[3]
- Lyke-Wake Dirge, repopularized in the 1960s by English folk groups[13]
- "Ring Out Your Bells", by Sir Philip Sidney[2]
See also
References
- ^ Kennedy, Michael; Kennedy, Joyce Bourne (2007–2013). "nenia". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023.
- ^ a b c "Dirge". Glossary of Terms. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
- ^ a b c Kennedy, Michael; Bourne, Joyce (eds.). "dirge". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. Oxford University Press – via Encyclopedia.com.
- ^ "dirge". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ^ a b Broderick, Robert C., ed. (1944). "Dirge". Concise Catholic Dicitionary. Saint Paul, MN: Catechetical Guild Educational Society. p. 116.
- ^ a b Thurston, Herbert (1911). "The Primer". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York City: Robert Appleton Company – via NewAdvent.org.
- ^ a b c d e Pullan, Leighton (1901). Newbolt, W.C.E; Stone, Darwell (eds.). The History of the Book of Common Prayer. The Oxford Library of Practical Theology (3rd ed.). London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
- ^ Armentrout, Don S.; Slocum, Robert Boak (eds.). "Dirge". An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians. New York City: Church Publishing Incorporated.
- ^ a b c d e f Duffy, Eamon (1992). The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c.1400 to c.1580. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- ISBN 0-19-211655-X.
- ^ Cowley, Bill (1959). Lyke Wake Walk (1st edition). Dalesman Books.
- ^ "The Lyke Wake Dirge". www.lykewake.org.
- ^ a b Rumens, Carol (16 February 2009). "Poem of the week: The Lyke-Wake Dirge". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ^ Dearmer, Percy (1933). The Story of the Prayer Book (1948 ed.). London: Oxford University Press. p. 41.
Bibliography
- Marcello Sorce Keller, “Expressing, Communicating, Sharing and Representing Grief and Sorrow with Organized Sound (Musings in Eight Short Sentences)”, in Stephen Wild, Di Roy, Aaron Corn, and Ruth Lee Martin (eds.), Humanities Research: One Common Thread the Musical World of Lament, Australian National University, Vol. XIX (2013), no. 3, 3–14.