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"Dies irae" (Latin pronunciation: [ˈdi.es ˈi.re]; "the Day of Wrath") is a Latin sequence attributed to either Thomas of Celano of the Franciscans (1200–1265) or to Latino Malabranca Orsini (d. 1294), lector at the Dominican studium at Santa Sabina, the forerunner of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome. The sequence dates from the 13th century at the latest, though it is possible that it is much older, with some sources ascribing its origin to St. Gregory the Great (d. 604), Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), or Bonaventure (1221–1274).

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 Extraordinary Form of 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 Middle Ages. Thus they removed such familiar and even beloved texts as "Libera me, Domine", "Dies irae", 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.

"Dies irae" remains as a hymn ad libitum in the Liturgy of the Hours during the last week before Advent, divided into three parts for the Office of Readings, Lauds and Vespers.

Text

The Latin text below is taken from the Requiem Mass in the 1962 Roman Missal. The first English version below, translated by William Josiah Irons in 1849, albeit from a slightly different Latin text, replicates the rhyme and metre of the original. This translation, edited for more conformance to the official Latin, is approved by the Catholic Church for use as the funeral Mass sequence in the liturgy of the Anglican ordinariate. The second English version is a more formal equivalence translation.

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, Lacrimosa, discards the consistent scheme of rhyming triplets in favour of a pair of rhyming couplets. The last stanza, Pie Iesu, abandons rhyme for assonance, and, moreover, its lines are catalectic.

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:

Manuscript sources

The text of the sequence is found, with slight verbal variations, in a 13th-century manuscript in the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III at Naples. It is a Franciscan calendar missal that must date between 1253 and 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.

Inspiration

A major inspiration of the hymn seems to have come from the Vulgate translation of Zephaniah 1:15–16:

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 Jewish liturgy, the prayer Unetanneh Tokef appears to be related: "We shall ascribe holiness to this day, For it is awesome and terrible"; "the great trumpet is sounded", etc.

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.

Literary references

• Walter Scott used the first two stanzas in the sixth canto of his narrative poem "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" (1805).
• 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).
• 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.
• 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. 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 Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, and Stravinsky. Giovanni Battista Martini ended his set of (mostly humorous) 303 canons with a set of 20 on extracts of the sequence poem.

Musical quotations

The traditional Gregorian melody has been used as a theme or musical quotation in many classical compositions, including:

• Thomas Adès – Totentanz (2013)
• Charles-Valentin Alkan – Souvenirs: Trois morceaux dans le genre pathétique, Op. 15 (No. 3: Morte) (1837)
• Eric Ball – "Resurgam" (1950)
• Hector Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique (1830), Requiem (1837)
• Ernest Bloch – Suite Symphonique (1944)
• Johannes Brahms – Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118, No. 6, Intermezzo in E-flat minor (1893)
• Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – 24 Caprichos de Goya, Op. 195: "XII. No hubo remedio" (plate 24) (1961)
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier – Prose des morts – Dies iræ H. 12 (1670)
• George Crumb – Black Angels (1970)
• Michael Daugherty – Metropolis Symphony 5th movement, "Red Cape Tango"; Dead Elvis for bassoon and chamber ensemble (1993)
• Alexander Glazunov – From the Middle Ages Suite, No. 2 "Scherzo", Op. 79 (1902)
• Charles Gounod – Faust opera, act 4 (1859)
• Joseph Haydn – Symphony No. 103, "The Drumroll" (1795)
• Gustav Holst – The Planets, movement 5, "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age"
• Arthur Honegger – La Danse des Morts, H. 131 (1938)
• Hans Huber quotes the melody in the second movement ("Funeral March") of his Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 118 (Heroic, 1908).
• Alexander Kastalsky – Requiem for Fallen Brothers, movements 3 and 4 (1917)
• Aram Khachaturian – Symphony No. 2 (1944)
• Teofil Klonowski - Preludes on Polish Church Hymns: Dies Irae (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 (1874)
• Modest Mussorgsky – Songs and Dances of Death, No. 3 "Trepak" (1875)
• Nikolai Myaskovsky – Symphony No. 6, Op. 23 (1921–23)
• Sergei Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 1 (1891); Symphony No. 1, Op. 13 (1895); 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, 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) (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
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Modern Greek Song (In Dark Hell) Op. 16 No. 6 (1872), 6 Pieces on a Single Theme op 21 (1873), Orchestral Suite No. 3 (1884), Manfred Symphony (1885)
• Eugène Ysaÿe – Solo Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Obsession" (1923)

It has also been used in many film scores and popular works, such as:

• Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind – Opening theme for The Shining (1980)
• Gerald Fried – Opening theme for The Return of Dracula, 1958
• Jerry Goldsmith – The Mephisto Waltz (1971)
• Donald Grantham – Baron Cimetiére's Mambo (2004)
• Bernard Hermann quotes it in the main theme for Citizen Kane (1941)
• 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.
• Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez – Frozen II (soundtrack), "Into the Unknown" (2019)
• Harry Manfredini – main title theme for Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
• Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) soundtrack; "The Bells of Notre Dame" features passages from the first and second stanzas as lyrics.
• Ennio Morricone – "Penance" from his score for The Mission (1986)
• 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" (1979)
• John Williams – "Old Man Marley" leitmotif from his score for Home Alone (1990)

References

1. ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Dies Iræ" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
2. Crociani, G. (1901). Scritti vari di Filologia (in Latin). Rome: Forzani &c. p. 488. LCCN 03027597. OCLC 10827264. OL 23467162M. Retrieved 2022-03-15 – via Internet Archive.
3. Bugnini, Annibale (1990). "Chapter 46: Funerals". The Reform of the Liturgy: 1948–1975. Translated by O'Connell, Michael J. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press. p. 773. ISBN 9780814615713. LCCN 90036986. OCLC 1151099486. OL 1876823M. Retrieved 2022-03-15 – via Internet Archive.
4. ^ Liturgia Horarum (in Latin). Vol. IV. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2000. p. 489. ISBN 9788820928124. OCLC 44683882. OL 20815631M. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
5. Missale Romanum (PDF) (in Latin) (3rd ed.). Vatican City: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis. 1962. p. 706. OCLC 61411326. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
6. The full text of Dies Irae (Irons, 1912) at Wikisource
7. 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.
8. "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.
9. Kennedy, Matthew (1825). The Spiritual Rose; Or Method Of Saying The Rosaries Of The Most Holy Name Of Jesus And The Blessed Virgin, With Their Litanies: Also The Meditations And Prayers, Adapted To the Holy Way Of The Cross, &c (in English and Irish). Monaghan: Greacen, Printer. OCLC 299179233. OL 26201026M. Retrieved 2022-03-16 – via Google Books.
10. Leroux, Gaston (1911). The Phantom of the Opera. New York City: Grosset & Dunlap. p. 164. ISBN 9780758318008. OCLC 4373384. Retrieved 2022-03-15 – via Google Books.
11. Vorderman, Carol (2015). Help your Kids With Music (1st American ed.). London: Dorling-Kindersley. p. 143. ISBN 9781465485489.
12. Martini, Giovanni. Canoni. manuscript. pp. 134–148. {{cite book}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
13. Ellis, Gabriel (2018-04-05). "Breaking the canon: Padre Martini's vision for the canonic genre". Stanford Libraries Blog.
14. Cadagin, Joe (August 2020). "ADÈS: Totentanz". Opera News. Vol. 85, no. 2. New York City: Metropolitan Opera Guild. ISSN 1938-1506. Archived from the original on 2022-03-16. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
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17. Cummings, Robert. Intermezzo for piano in E-flat minor, Op. 118/6 at AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
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22. Barnett, Rob. "Hans Huber" (review). Archived from the original on 2021-10-31. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
23. "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.
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29. Henken, John. "Sonata in A minor for Solo Violin ("Obsession"), Op. 27, No. 2 (Eugène Ysaÿe)". LA Phil. Archived from the original on 2021-05-12. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
30. Gengaro, Christine Lee (2013). Listening to Stanley Kubrick: The Music in His Films. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 189–190. ISBN 978-0-8108-8564-6 – via Google Books.
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38. 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", Franciscan Archive. 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

• 13th-century Christian texts
• 13th-century Latin literature
• 13th-century poems
• Book of Zephaniah
• Catholic liturgy
• Judgment in Christianity
• Latin religious words and phrases
• Latin-language Christian hymns
• Requiems
• Works of uncertain authorship