Dies Irae in Music



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Dies Irae is one of the oldest pieces of medieval music. The name 'Dies Irae' is in reference to the opening words of the first verse: Dies irae, dies illa. The rubrics of the Roman Missal prescribe the recitation of the sequence by the celebrant on the following occasions: in the Mass of All Souls' Day (In commemoratione Omnium Fidelium Defunctorum); in funeral Masses (In die obitus seu depositionis defuncti); and whenever in requiem Masses, only one oratio, or collect, is to be said, namely in the anniversary Mass, and when Mass is solemnly celebrated on the third, the seventh, or the thirtieth day after death or burial.
This Missal text of the sequence is found, with light verbal variations, in a thirteenth-century manuscript in the Biblioteca. A still earlier date (1250) mentions a copy of the Dies Irae inserted at the end of a so-called "Breviary of St. Clare" dating about 1228. The first edition of Julian's "Dictionary of Hymnology" (1892) declared the "oldest form known to the present time" to be found in a Dominican Missal "written at the end of the fourteenth century and apparently for use at Pisa"; Warren, in his "Dies Irae" (London, 1902, p. 5), knows no earlier manuscript.
The Dies Irae has been translated many times in various tongues, the largest recorded number (234) being English renderings. Among the names of those who have given complete or fragmentary translations are those of Crashaw (1646) and Dryden (1696). One translator wrote, "Sacrae poeseos summum decus et Ecclesiae Latinae keimelion est pretiosissimum" (It is the chief glory of sacred poetry and the most precious treasure of the Latin Church). Orby Shipley, in the "Dublin Review" of Jan., 1883, says: "But beyond them all, and before them all, and above them all may, perhaps be placed Dies irae, by Thomas of Celano"; of Coles: "Among gems it is the diamond. It is solitary in its excellence "; and Dryden, "This marvellous hymn is the acknowledged masterpiece of Latin poetry and the most sublime of all uninspired hymns"; of Dr. Neale: ". . . the Dies Irae in its unapproached glory."


The original score, as presented in Franciscan Missal of 1477 and preserved in Julian's "Dictionary of Hymnology," 1892.

Dies Irae

1 Dies irae! dies illa
Solvet saeclum 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 tremendae majestatis,
qui salvandos salvas gratis,
salva me, fons pietatis.
9 Recordare, Jesu pie,
quod sum causa tuae viae:
ne me perdas illa die.
10 Quaerens 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 meae non sunt dignae:
sed tu bonus fac benigne,
ne perenni cremer igne.
15 Inter oves locum praesta,
et ab haedis 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.