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Dies Irae
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Dies Irae (Days of Wrath) is a famous thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano. It is a medieval Latin poem, differing from classical Latin by its accentual (non-quantitative) stress and its rhymed lines.
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Dies Irae (Days of Wrath) is a famous thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano. It is a 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 is used as a sequence in the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass in the extraordinary form (1962 missal). It is not used in the ordinary form (1970) of the Roman Missal.
Use in the Catholic liturgy
Those familiar with musical settings of the Requiem Masssuch as those by Mozart or Verdiwill be aware of the important place Dies Irĉ held in the liturgy. Nevertheless the "Consilium for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy" - the Vatican body charged with drafting and implementing reforms to the Catholic Liturgy ordered by the Second Vatican Council - felt the funeral rite was in need of reform and eliminated the sequence from the ordinary rite. The architect of these reforms, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, explains the mind of the members of the Consilium:
- They 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 Irĉ, and others that overemphasized judgment, fear, and despair. These they replaced with texts urging Christian hope and arguably giving more effective expression to faith in the resurrection.
It remained as the sequence for the Requiem Mass in the Roman Missal of 1962 (the last edition before the Second Vatican Council) and so is still heard in churches where the Tridentine Latin liturgy is celebrated.
The "Dies Irae" is still suggested in the Liturgy of the Hours during last week before Advent as the opening hymn for the Office of Readings, Lauds and Vespers (divided into three parts).
The poem
The Latin text is taken from the Requiem Mass in the 1962 Roman Missal. The English version below was translated by William Josiah Irons in 1849 and appears in the English Missal, as well as in The Hymnal 1940 of the Episcopal Church in the USA. Note that the below translation is not a formal equivalence, but modified to fit the rhyme and meter, a closer translation can be found .
1
Dies irĉ! dies illa
Solvet sĉclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla!
2
Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando judex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus!
3
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulchra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.
4
Mors stupebit et natura,
cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.
5
Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.
6
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
quidquid latet apparebit:
nil inultum remanebit.
7
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix justus sit securus?
8
Rex tremendĉ majestatis,
qui salvandos salvas gratis,
salva me, fons pietatis.
9
Recordare, Jesu pie,
quod sum causa tuĉ viĉ:
ne me perdas illa die.
10
Quĉrens me, sedisti lassus:
redemisti Crucem passus:
tantus labor non sit cassus.
11
Juste judex ultionis,
donum fac remissionis
ante diem rationis.
12
Ingemisco, tamquam reus:
culpa rubet vultus meus:
supplicanti parce, Deus.
13
Qui Mariam absolvisti,
et latronem exaudisti,
mihi quoque spem dedisti.
14
Preces meĉ non sunt dignĉ:
sed tu bonus fac benigne,
ne perenni cremer igne.
15
Inter oves locum prĉsta,
et ab hĉdis me sequestra,
statuens in parte dextra.
16
Confutatis maledictis,
flammis acribus addictis:
voca me cum benedictis.
17
Oro supplex et acclinis,
cor contritum quasi cinis:
gere curam mei finis.
1
Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets' warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
2
Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth,
when from heaven the Judge descendeth,
on whose sentence all dependeth.
3
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;
through earth's sepulchers it ringeth;
all before the throne it bringeth.
4
Death is struck, and nature quaking,
all creation is awaking,
to its Judge an answer making.
5
Lo! the book, exactly worded,
wherein all hath been recorded:
thence shall judgment be awarded.
6
When the Judge his seat attaineth,
and each hidden deed arraigneth,
nothing unavenged remaineth.
7
What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
when the just are mercy needing?
8
King of Majesty tremendous,
who dost free salvation send us,
Fount of pity, then befriend us!
9
Think, good Jesus, my salvation
cost thy wondrous Incarnation;
leave me not to reprobation!
10
Faint and weary, thou hast sought me,
on the cross of suffering bought me.
shall such grace be vainly brought me?
11
Righteous Judge! for sin's pollution
grant thy gift of absolution,
ere the day of retribution.
12
Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
all my shame with anguish owning;
spare, O God, thy suppliant groaning!
13
Thou the sinful woman savedst;
thou the dying thief forgavest;
and to me a hope vouchsafest.
14
Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
rescue me from fires undying!
15
With thy favored sheep O place me;
nor among the goats abase me;
but to thy right hand upraise me.
16
While the wicked are confounded,
doomed to flames of woe unbounded
call me with thy saints surrounded.
17
Low I kneel, with heart submission,
see, like ashes, my contrition;
help me in my last condition.
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.
18
Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
19
Pie Jesu Domine,
dona eis requiem. Amen.
18
Ah! that day of tears and mourning!
From the dust of earth returning
man for judgment must prepare him;
Spare, O God, in mercy spare him!
19
Lord, all pitying, Jesus blest,
grant them thine eternal rest. Amen.
In 1970, the Dies Irĉ 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 absolvisti in stanza 13 was replaced by Peccatricem qui solvisti so that that line would now mean, "You who freed the sinful woman". In addition a doxology is given after stanzas 6, 12 and 18:
doxology:
O tu, Deus majestatis,
alme candor Trinitatis
nos coniunge cum beatis. Amen.
doxology:
O God of majesty
nourishing light of the Trinity
join us with the blessed. Amen.
Inspiration and other translations
A major inspiration of the hymn seems to have come from the Vulgate translation of Zephaniah 1:1516:
- Dies irĉ, dies illa, dies tribulationis et angustiĉ, dies calamitatis et miseriĉ, dies tenebrarum et caliginis, dies nebulĉ et turbinis, dies tubĉ 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. (Douai Bible)
Other images come from Revelation 20:1115 (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 21:2627 ("men fainting with fear ... they will see the Son of Man coming"), etc.
From the Jewish liturgy, the prayer Unetanneh Tokef also appears to have been a source: "We shall ascribe holiness to this day, For it is awesome and terrible"; "the great trumpet is sounded", etc.
A number of English translations of the poem have been written and proposed for liturgical use. A Franciscan version can be read . 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 wilt the sinner's heart confound!
Jan Kasprowicz, a Polish poet, wrote a hymn entitled Dies irae which describes 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".
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!
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 12531255 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 hymn music, with the words of the first stanza, is provided here:
The words have often been set to music as part of the Requiem service, originally as a sombre plainchant. It also formed part of the traditional Catholic liturgy of All Souls Day. Music for the Requiem Mass has been composed by many composers, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - who said that he would trade all his work for just having composed the Gregorian Dies Irae - as well as Hector Berlioz, Giuseppe Verdi, and Igor Stravinsky. The setting by Mozart, especially the first two stanzas (Requiem, 2nd movement), is often heard in the scores of movies and the musical "beds" of commercials (e.g. X2: X-Men United).
The traditional Gregorian melody has also been used as a musical quotation in a number of other classical compositions, among them:
- Thomas Adès - Living Toys
- Charles-Valentin Alkan - Symphony for Solo Piano, Op. 39, Souvenirs: Trois morceaux dans le genre pathétique, Op. 15 - (No. 3 - Morte)
- Ernest Bloch - Suite Symphonique
- Hector Berlioz - Symphonie fantastique
- Andrew Boysen - Grant Them Eternal Rest
- Johannes Brahms - Klavierstück, Op. 118, No. 6
- Benjamin Britten - War Requiem
- Antoine Brumel - Dies Irae
- Constantine Caravassilis - Fantasie Sopra il Dies Irae for solo piano
- Elliott Carter - In Sleep, In Thunder, #4
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier - Grand Office des Morts
- George Crumb - Black Angels, Makrokosmos Volume II, Star Child
- Luigi Dallapiccola - Canti di prigionia
- Michael Daugherty - Metropolis Symphony 5th mvmt, Red Cape Tango. Dead Elvis
- Raymond Deane - Seachanges
- Erno Dohnányi - Rhapsody in E-flat minor, Op. 11, No. 4
- Antonín Dvorák - Symphony No. 7 in D minor, mvmt 1
- Martin Ellerby - Paris Sketches, mvmt 3
- Antonio Estévez - La Cantata Criolla
- Jean Françaix - Cinq poemes de Charles d'Orléans
- Diamanda Galás - Masque Of The Red Death: Part I - Divine Punishment & Saint Of The Pit: Track 5. Heautontimorounenos (Restless Souls)
- Robert Gerhard - Piano Concerto
- Alexander Glazunov - Moyen Age
- Leopold Godowsky - Piano Sonata in E minor, mvmt 5
- Berthold Goldschmidt - Beatrice Cenci opera
- Charles Gounod - Faust opera, Act IV; Mors et Vita
- Joseph Haydn - Symphony No. 103, "The Drumroll"
- Vagn Holmboe - Symphony No. 10, 1st & 4th mvmts; Symphony No. 11, 1st mvmt
- Arthur Honegger - La Danse des Morts
- Karl Jenkins - Requiem
- Miloslav Kabelác - Symphony No. 8 Antiphonies
- Aram Khachaturian - Symphony No. 2 The Bell Symphony, Spartacus
- György Ligeti - Le Grand Macabre
- Franz Liszt - Dante Symphony, Totentanz
- Charles Martin Loeffler - One Who Fell in Battle, Rhapsodies for oboe, viola, and piano, 1st movement, and several songs
- Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 2, mvmts 1, 3, and 5
- Bohuslav Martinu - Cello Concerto No. 2, final movement.
- Nikolai Medtner - Piano Quintet in C Major, Op. posth.
- Modest Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain, Songs and Dances of Death
- Nikolai Myaskovsky - Piano Sonata No. 2, Symphony No. 6
- Carl Orff - Carmina Burana
- Krzysztof Penderecki - Dies Irae
- Ildebrando Pizzetti - Requiem, Assassinio nella cattedrale
- Sergei Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 1, Op. 13, Symphony No. 2, Op. 27, Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28, Isle of the Dead, Op. 29, Prelude in E minor, Op. 32, No. 4, The Bells choral symphony, Op. 35, Études-Tableaux, Op. 39, No. 2, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43, Symphony No. 3, Op. 44, Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
- Ottorino Respighi - Brazilian Impressions
- Marcel Rubin - Symphony No. 4, 2nd mvmt (Dies Irae)
- Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre, Requiem, Symphony No. 3 ("Organ Symphony")
- Aulis Sallinen - Aulis Dies Irae, Op. 47
- Ernest Schelling - Impressions from an Artist's Life
- Peter Schickele (P. D. Q. Bach) - Unbegun Symphony
- William Schmidt - Tuba mirum
- Alfred Schnittke - Symphony No. 1, mvmt 4
- Peter Sculthorpe - Memento Mori (1993)
- Dmitri Shostakovich - Music for Hamlet, Symphony No. 14
- Jean Sibelius - Lemminkäinen Suite
- Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji - Variazioni e fuga triplice sopra Dies irĉ per pianoforte (1923-26), Sequentia cyclica super Dies irĉ ex Missa pro defunctis in clavicembali usum (1948-49)
- Ronald Stevenson - Passacaglia on DSCH (1962-3)
- Richard Strauss - Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome
- Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring (sacrifice intro); Three pieces for String Quartet (III, "Canticle"); Histoire du Soldat
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Grand Sonata, Op. 37; Manfred Symphony; Orchestral Suite No. 3, Op. 55; Modern Greek Song, Op. 16, No. 6; Marche Funèbre, Op. 21, No. 4
- Frank Ticheli - Vesuvius
- Ralph Vaughan Williams - Five Tudor Portraits
- Adrian Williams - Dies Irae
- James Yannatos - Trinity Mass
- Eugène Ysa˙e - Sonata in A minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Obsession"
Literary references
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe used the first, the sixth and the seventh stanza of the hymn in the scene "Cathedral" in the first part of his drama Faust (1808).
- Italian poet Giuseppe Giusti composed in 1835 the satirical poem Il "Dies irĉ" on the occasion of the death of Francis II, Emperor of Austria.
- Oscar Wilde composed a Sonnet on Hearing the Dies Irae Sung in the Sistine Chapel, contrasting the "terrors of red flame and thundering" depicted in the hymn with images of "life and love".
- Kurt Vonnegut wrote Stones, Time, & Elements - A Humanist Requiem in opposition to the classical Requiem and in particular to the "Dies Irae", which he found "vengeful and sadistic" (and mistakenly reputed a "piece of poetry by committee from the Council of Trent"). His Requiem was set to music by Edgar David Grana.
In Anne Rice's The Vampire Armand , when Amadeo and Marius de Romanus other apprentices were captured by the Santino's satanic coven of vampires, they would mock Armand by singing this hymn.
- Dies irae, dies illa when the absent shall be present and the present absent...in albums, in desk drawers, this picture and thousands like it have subtly matured, metamorphosed. The Age of Iron by J.M. Coetzee
External links
- Appearance of in the street art of Kurt Wenner
- -- two Latin versions and a literal English translation
- - Film Score Monthly podcast highlighting the use of Dies Irae in concert and film music.
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