“Dies Iræ”.
The Sequence In A Requiem Mass
(Mass For The Dead).
Available on YouTube at
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“Dies Irae” (“The Day of Wrath”) is a Latin Sequence, attributed to either Thomas of Celano of The Franciscans (1200 – circa 1265) or to Latino Malabranca Orsini (☩ 1294), Lector at The Dominican Studium, at Santa Sabina, Rome, the forerunner of The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum, in Rome.
The Sequence dates from at least the 13th-Century, though it is possible that it is much older, with some sources ascribing its origin to Saint Gregory the Great (☩ 604 A.D.), Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), or, Saint Bonaventure (1221–1274).
The Last Judgement.
Artist: Hans Memling (circa 1433 –1494).
Collection: National Museum, Gdansk, Poland.
Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art
(Wikimedia Commons)
It is best known from its use in The 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 re-used as an independent Hymn.
Yes, the “Dies Irae:” “Remember, proud Man, you will be held to an accounting.”
ReplyDeleteThis compelling chant always grips my attention and, as it was always meant to do so, properly chills the torpid mind and soul and whips Brother Ass to a point of recollection of the need to make sincere contrition (Ps. 51:17, New Psalm version: Ps. 50:17, traditional Vulgate). It is a fascinating, mesmerizing piece. Rachmaninov (the theme appears in the middle of the “Variations on a Theme of Paganini” for Piano and Orchestra), Berlioz (“Symphonie Fantastique “), Verdi & Mozart (appears in the “Requiem” of each) and Stravinsky (“Requiem Canticles”), And a similar counter theme seems to be present in Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”—to name only a few.
I know there is still controversy over who appears to have actually composed the Dies Irae, because when it first appeared in a musical composition book about the time of the Franciscan poet Thomas of Celano (d. 1260), it was unsigned. The other attribution is to the Dominican Latinist scholar Malabranca Orsini, as mentioned above; but I lean towards the Franciscan, because of Thomas of Celano’s other wonderful, poetic, highly skilled compositions showing a remarkable blend of Latin and spiritual depth (notable the “Fioretti,” “the Life of S.Francis, but also his many other fine poetic works).
ReplyDeleteNot that this matters at al: It is a timeless piece of art and spiritual meaning.
Thank you, Zephyrinus!
Thank You, Dante Peregrinus, for your excellent contributions on this particular Article.
DeleteAs you rightly say: “It is a timeless piece of art and spiritual meaning”.
To which I add: “Let those who have eyes, see. Let those who have ears, hear”.