Dies Irae
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Dies Irae ("Day of Wrath") is a famous thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano. It is often judged to be the best medieval Latin poem, differing from classical Latin by its accentual (non-quantitative) stress and its rhymed lines. The meter is trochaic. The poem describes the day of judgment, the last trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames. The hymn was used as a sequence in the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass until the 1970 revision of the Roman Missal.
Dies Irae ("Day of Wrath") is also the name of a Black Metal band from Romania: [www.diesirae.ro] or [www.myspace.com/diesiraeromania]. Dies Irae's motto is: Modern Black Metal Reinvented. The band was formed in 1995 and is known as the best metal band in Romania.
Use in the Catholic liturgy
Those familiar with musical settings of the Requiem Mass — such as those by Mozart or Verdi — will be aware of the important place of the Dies Iræ in the liturgy. Nevertheless it fell foul of the preferences of the "Consilium for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy" - the Vatican body charged with implementing (and indeed drafting) the reforms to the Catholic Liturgy ordered by the Second Vatican Council. The architect of these reforms, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, explains the mind of the members of the Consilium:- [T]hey got rid of texts that smacked of a negative spirituality inherited from the Middle Ages. Thus they removed such familiar and even beloved texts as the Libera me, Domine, the Dies Iræ, and others that overemphasized judgment, fear, and despair. These they replaced with texts urging Christian hope and giving more effective expression to faith in the resurrection.Annibale Bugnini, The Reform of the Liturgy : 1948-1975, (The Liturgical Press, 1990), Chap.46.II.1, p.773.
The poem itself
The text as it is printed in the Order of Mass for the Dead in the 1962 Roman Missal, is as follows. The English translation attempts to preserve the trochaic meter of the Latin for the first four stanzas, in a style appropriate for the program for a performance. Later stanzas are translated more literally.There are many alternative English translations on the Internet, such as [this one], and on the full Requiem page.
2
Quantus tremor est futurus,
3
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
4
Mors stupebit et natura,
5
Liber scriptus proferetur,
6
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
7
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
8
Rex tremendæ majestatis,
9
Recordare, Jesu pie,
10
Quærens me, sedisti lassus:
11
Juste judex ultionis,
12
Ingemisco, tamquam reus:
13
Qui Mariam absolvisti,
14
Preces meæ non sunt dignæ:
15
Inter oves locum præsta,
16
Confutatis maledictis,
17
Oro supplex et acclinis,
1
Day of wrath and terror looming!
3
The trumpet casts a wondrous sound,
4
Death is struck and nature quaking,
5
The written book shall be brought forth,
6
So when the Judge shall sit,
7
What am I, wretched one, to say,
8
King of awesome majesty,
9
Remember, gracious Jesus,
10
Seeking me, you sat exhausted;
11
Just judge of vengeance,
12
I groan, as one guilty;
13
You who forgave Mary
14
My prayers are unworthy;
15
Grant me a place among the sheep,
16
When the accursed are silenced,
17
Suppliant and bowing, I beg,
The poem appears complete as it stands at this point. Some scholars question whether the remainder is an addition made in order to suit the great poem for liturgical use, for the last stanzas discard the consistent scheme of triple rhymes in favor of rhymed couplets, while the last two lines abandon rhyme for assonance and are, moreover, catalectic:
19
pie Jesu Domine,
19
Compassionate Lord Jesus,
In 1970 the Dies Iræ was removed from the Missal and since 1971 it is proposed ad libitum as a hymn for the Liturgy of the Hours at the Office of Readings, Lauds and Vespers. For this purpose stanza 19 was deleted and the poem divided into three sections: 1-6 (for the Office of Readings), 7-12 (for Lauds) and 13-18 (for Vespers. In addition "Qui Mariam" in stanza 13 was replaced by "Peccatricem" so that that line would now mean "You who forgave the sinful woman". This is due to modern hesitation to identify Mary Magdalen with the Woman Caught in Adultery (John 7:53-8:11) or the woman who annointed Jesus' feet at Bethany as recorded by Matthew (26:6) and Mark (14:3) - even though in the parallel passage in the Gospel of John (12:2-3) she is named Mary. In addition a doxology is given after stanzas 6,12 and 18Liturgia Horarum IV, (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000), p.489.:
A number of English translations of the poem have been written and proposed for liturgical use. A Franciscan version can be read [here]. A very loose Protestant version was made by John Newton; it opens:
The traditional Gregorian melody has also been quoted in a number of other classical compositions, among them:
The opening music to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, arranged by Wendy Carlos, is based upon the work.
Dies Irae ("Day of Wrath") is also the name of a Black Metal band from Romania: [www.diesirae.ro] or [www.myspace.com/diesiraeromania].
"Dies Irae" ("Day of Wrath") is the title of an instrumental song by Christian heavy metal band Believer. The song features an operatic rendition of the Dies Irae poem.
"Dies Irae" is the title of a song by Swedish black metal band Bathory, from the album Blood Fire Death.
More modern renderings of both the Lacrimosa (the last 6 lines) and the body of the poem, appear in works such as Preisner's Requiem for my friend.
'Dies Irae' is also the subject of a concept album by Slovenian orchestrated progressive metal group Devil Doll in which a character describes the Day of Wrath as the world experiences it. The album, aptly-titled "Dies Irae", is all basically one song; however, it is split up into eighteen parts (or sixteen/seventeen, depending on the release edition). The album includes excerpts and quotes from the original Latin hymn as well as "The Fly Song (Night of the Hunter)" by Charles Laughton and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Conqueror Worm".
Several verses of Dies Irae appear on the album of the North American progressive power metal band Symphony X.
The Dies Irae from the Roman Mass for the Dead is quoted in the song "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" from Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, as well as later on in the work, in a musical inversion. It is also quoted in "La Vie Boheme" in the musical Rent by Jonathan Larson. The first two verses of it are also used as the chorus in a song by Spanish power metal band Dark Moor, entitled "Dies Irae (Amadeus)".
The third and fourth stanzas of the Dies Irae are reinterpreted by the San Francisco quartet Deerhoof in the song "This Magnificent Bird Will Rise", from the album Reveille.
Verdi's version of 'Dies Irae' is part of the soundtrack to .
'Dies Irae' is referenced several times during the soundtrack to The Matrix series composed by Don Davis.
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Solvet sæclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla!
quando judex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus!
per sepulcra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.
cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.
quidquid latet apparebit:
nil inultum remanebit.
Quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix justus sit securus?
qui salvandos salvas gratis,
salva me, fons pietatis.
quod sum causa tuæ viæ:
ne me perdas illa die.
redemisti Crucem passus:
tantus labor non sit cassus.
donum fac remissionis
ante diem rationis.
culpa rubet vultus meus:
supplicanti parce, Deus.
et latronem exaudisti,
mihi quoque spem dedisti.
sed tu bonus fac benigne,
ne perenni cremer igne.
et ab hædis me sequestra,
statuens in parte dextra.
flammis acribus addictis:
voca me cum benedictis.
cor contritum quasi cinis:
gere curam mei finis.
Heaven and earth to ash consuming,
David's word and Sibyl's truth foredooming!
2
What horror must invade the mind,
when the approaching judge shall find,
and sift the deeds of all mankind.
through the tombs of all around,
making them the throne surround.
all creation is awaking,
to its judge an answer making.
in which is contained all
from which the world is to be judged.
whatever is hidden shall be seen,
nothing shall remain unpunished.
What protector implore,
when (even) a just person will scarcely be confident?
you who save gratuitously those to be saved,
save me, fount of pity.
that I am the cause of your journey;
do not let me be lost on that day.
you redeemed me by undergoing the Cross;
let so much toil not be in vain.
grant the gift of forgiveness,
before the day of reckoning'.
my face is red with shame;
spare, O God, a supplicant.
and heard the plea of the thief
have given hope to me also.
but you, the Good, show me favour,
that I may not be consumed by eternal fire.
and separate me from the goats,
placing me at your right hand.
sentenced to piercing flames,
call me with the blessed.
(my) heart contrite like ash:
Have a care for my end.
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
dona eis requiem. Amen.
on which will rise from ashes
guilty man for judgement.
So have mercy, O God, on this man.
grant them rest. Amen.
alme candor Trinitatis
nos coniunge cum beatis. Amen.
Inspiration and other translations
The inspiration of the hymn seems to have come from the Vulgate translation of Zephaniah I:15-16:
Other images come from Revelation 20:11-15 (the book from which the world will be judged), (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), Luke 21:26-27 ("men fainting with fear ... they will see the Son of Man coming"), etc.
Jan Kasprowicz, a Polish poet, wrote a hymn entitled Dies irae (text in Polish: [link]) which decribes the Judgement day. The first six lines (two stanzas) follow the original hymn's meter and rhyme structure, and the first stanza translates to "The trumpet will cast a wondrous sound".Manuscript sources
The oldest text of the sequence is found, with slight verbal variations, in a 13th century manuscript in the Biblioteca Nazionale at Naples. It is a Franciscan calendar missal that must date between 1253 - 1255 for it does not contain the name of Clare of Assisi, who was canonized in 1255, and whose name would have been inserted if the manuscript were of later date.Musical settings
The words have often been set to music as part of the Requiem service, originally as a sombre plain chant. It also formed part of the traditional Catholic liturgy of All Souls Day. Music for the Requiem mass is composed by many composers, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi and Hector Berlioz.
Charles-Valentin Alkan - Symphony for Solo Piano
Hector Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique and Damnation of Faust
Johannes Brahms - Klavierstuck op. 118/6
Benjamin Britten - War Requiem
Antonín Dvořák - ''Symphony #7, 1st mvmt
Daniel Elfman - Score for The Nightmare Before Christmas
Leopold Godowsky - Piano Sonata in E Minor, Mvt. 5
Jerry Goldsmith - Scores for the Poltergeist film series
Franz Liszt - Totentanz and Dante Symphony
Arthur Honegger - La Danse des Morts
Nikolai Medtner - Piano Quintet in C Major, Op. Posth.
Nikolai Myaskovsky - Piano Sonata #2 and Symphony #6
Modest Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain and Songs and Dances of Death
Carl Orff - Carmina Burana
Sergei Rachmaninoff - Over one third of his works, including Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, The Isle of the Dead, throughout the Opus 45 Symphonic Dances, his three symphonies, Prelude in e minor, Op. 33#4', and The Bells''
Ottorino Respighi - Brazillian Impressions
Camille Saint-Saens - Danse Macabre, Requiem, and Symphony #3, 1st movt
Dmitri Shostakovich - Music for Hamlet and Symphony #14
Stephen Sondheim - The main theme of Sweeney Todd
Kaikhosru Sorabji - Cyclic Squence on Dies Irae and Variations and Triple Fugue on Dies Irae
Richard Strauss - Till Eulenspiegel
Igor Stravinsky - Rite of Spring (sacrifice intro)
Peter Tchaikovsky - Manfred Symphony
Eugène Ysaÿe - Sonata No. 2 for Solo Violin
Scott Walker - My Death from his first solo record, Scott
Krzysztof Kicior's Visions réflexives and George Crumb's Black Angels.
as well as others.References in popular culture
Notes and references
External links
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