Dies irae
"Dies irae" (Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈdi.es ˈi.re]; "the Day of Wrath") is a Latin sequence attributed to either Thomas of Celano of the Franciscans (1200–1265)[1] 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.
[2] 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).
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.
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 "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.
A leading figure in the post-conciliar liturgical reforms, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, explained 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.
[7] The first English version below, translated by William Josiah Irons in 1849,[8] albeit from a slightly different Latin text, replicates the rhyme and metre of the original.
Recordare, Iesu pie, Quod sum causa tuæ viæ: Ne me perdas illa die.
Righteous Judge, for sin's pollution Grant Thy gift of absolution, Ere the day of retribution.
Guilty, now I pour my moaning, All my shame with anguish owning; Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning!
Preces meæ non sunt dignæ: Sed tu bonus fac benigne, Ne perenni cremer igne.
Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum quasi cinis: Gere curam mei finis.
Lacrimosa dies illa, Qua resurget ex favílla Iudicandus homo reus: Huic ergo parce, Deus: Ah!
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, a doxology is given after stanzas 6, 12 and 18:[4] O tu, Deus majestatis, alme candor Trinitatis nos conjunge cum beatis.
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.
(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 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.
Jan Kasprowicz, a Polish poet, wrote a hymn entitled "Dies iræ" which describes the Judgment day.
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!
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.
In 5-line staff notation: The traditional Gregorian melody gained widespread recognition through its use in Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.
[16] After Berlioz, it was used as a theme or musical quotation in many classical compositions, including: It has also been used in many film scores and popular works, such as:
