Dies irae - WikiHQ

thumb|Centre panel from [[Hans Memling|Memling's triptych Last Judgment ()]]

"" (; "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 at Santa Sabina, the forerunner of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the ) 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).

"", slightly edited, remains in use ad libitum as a hymn in the Liturgy of the Hours on All Souls' Day and during the last week before Advent, for which it is divided into three parts for the Office of Readings, Lauds and Vespers, with the insertion of a doxology after each part.

Indulgence

In the Roman Catholic Church there was formerly an indulgence of three years for each recitation and a plenary indulgence for reciting the prayer daily for a month. This indulgence was not renewed in the Manual of Indulgences.

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 Catholic ordinariates for former Anglicans. The second English version is a more formal equivalence translation.

{| class="wikitable"

!

!Original

!Approved adaptation

!Formal equivalence

|style="text-align:right;"|I

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Day of wrath and doom impending!

David's word with Sibyl's blending,

Heaven and earth in ashes ending!</poem>

|<poem>The day of wrath, that day,

will dissolve the world in ashes:

(this is) the testimony of David along with the Sibyl.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|II

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth,

When from heaven the Judge descendeth,

On whose sentence all dependeth.</poem>

|<poem>How great will be the quaking,

when the Judge is about to come,

strictly investigating all things!</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|III

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;

Through earth's sepulchres it ringeth;

All before the throne it bringeth.</poem>

|<poem>The trumpet, scattering a wondrous sound

through the sepulchres of the regions,

will summon all before the throne.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|IV

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Death is struck, and nature quaking,

All creation is awaking,

To its Judge an answer making.</poem>

|<poem>Death and nature will marvel,

when the creature will rise again,

to respond to the Judge.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|V

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Lo, the book, exactly worded,

Wherein all hath been recorded,

Thence shall judgement be awarded.</poem>

|<poem>The written book will be brought forth,

in which all is contained,

from which the world shall be judged.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|VI

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>When the Judge his seat attaineth,

And each hidden deed arraigneth,

Nothing unavenged remaineth.</poem>

|<poem>When therefore the Judge will sit,

whatever lies hidden, will appear:

nothing will remain unpunished.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|VII

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>What shall I, frail man, be pleading?

Who for me be interceding,

When the just are mercy needing?</poem>

|<poem>What then shall I, poor wretch [that I am], say?

Which patron shall I entreat,

when [even] the just may [only] hardly be sure?</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|VIII

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>King of Majesty tremendous,

Who dost free salvation send us,

Fount of pity, then befriend us!</poem>

|<poem>King of fearsome majesty,

Who saves the redeemed freely,

save me, O fount of mercy.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|IX

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Think, kind Jesu!my salvation

Caused Thy wondrous Incarnation;

Leave me not to reprobation.</poem>

|<poem>Remember, merciful Jesus,

that I am the cause of Your journey:

lest You lose me in that day.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|X

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Faint and weary, Thou hast sought me,

On the Cross of suffering bought me.

Shall such grace be vainly brought me?</poem>

|<poem>Seeking me, You rested, tired:

You redeemed [me], having suffered the Cross:

let not such hardship be in vain.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|XI

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Righteous Judge, for sin's pollution

Grant Thy gift of absolution,

Ere the day of retribution.</poem>

|<poem>Just Judge of vengeance,

make a gift of remission

before the day of reckoning.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|XII

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Guilty, now I pour my moaning,

All my shame with anguish owning;

Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning!</poem>

|<poem>I sigh, like the guilty one:

my face reddens in guilt:

Spare the imploring one, O God.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|XIII

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Through the sinful woman shriven,

Through the dying thief forgiven,

Thou to me a hope hast given.</poem>

|<poem>You Who absolved Mary,

and heard the robber,

gave hope to me also.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|XIV

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Worthless are my prayers and sighing,

Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,

Rescue me from fires undying.</poem>

|<poem>My prayers are not worthy:

but You, [Who are] good, graciously grant

that I be not burned up by the everlasting fire.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|XV

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>With Thy sheep a place provide me,

From the goats afar divide me,

To Thy right hand do Thou guide me.</poem>

|<poem>Grant me a place among the sheep,

and take me out from among the goats,

setting me on the right side.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|XVI

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>When the wicked are confounded,

Doomed to flames of woe unbounded,

Call me with Thy saints surrounded.</poem>

|<poem>Once the cursed have been silenced,

sentenced to acrid flames,

Call me, with the blessed.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|XVII

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Low I kneel, with heart's submission,

See, like ashes, my contrition,

Help me in my last condition.</poem>

|<poem>[Humbly] kneeling and bowed I pray,

[my] heart crushed as ashes:

take care of my end.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|XVIII

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Ah! that day of tears and mourning,

From the dust of earth returning

Man for judgement must prepare him,

Spare, O God, in mercy spare him.</poem>

|<poem>Tearful [will be] that day,

on which from the glowing embers will arise

the guilty man who is to be judged:

Then spare him, O God.</poem>

|style="text-align:right;"|XIX

|<poem></poem>

|<poem>Lord, all-pitying, Jesus blest,

Grant them Thine eternal rest. Amen.</poem>

|<poem>Merciful Lord Jesus,

grant them rest. Amen.</poem>

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

In the liturgical reforms of 1969–1971, 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, in stanza 13 was replaced by 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:

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 by Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny. The English translation is used verbatim in Dick's novel Ubik two years later.

Music

The words of "" 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, "" refers only to the first of these movements, the others being titled according to their respective incipits.

The earliest surviving polyphonic setting of the Requiem, by Johannes Ockeghem, does not include "". The first polyphonic settings to include the "" 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. Giovanni Battista Martini ended his set of (mostly humorous) 303 canons with a set of 20 on extracts of the sequence poem.

13th-century Gregorian chant

The original Gregorian setting, dating back to the 13th century, was a sombre plainchant (or Gregorian chant).

It is in the Dorian mode. In four-line neumatic notation, it begins:

alt=The "Dies iræ" melody in four-line neumatic chant notation.

In 5-line staff notation:

:<score sound="1">

\new Staff \with {

\remove Time_signature_engraver

}

\relative c' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"tuba" \tempo 8 = 90 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t

\cadenzaOn

f8 e f d e c d d \breathe

f8 f([ g)] f([ e)] d([ c)] e f e d4. \breathe

a8 c([ d)] d d([ c)] e f e d4. \bar "||"

}

\addlyrics {

Di -- es i -- ræ di -- es il -- la,

Sol -- vet sae -- clum in fa -- vil -- la:

Tes -- te Da -- vid cum Si -- byl -- la

}

</score>

Musical quotations

The traditional Gregorian melody gained widespread recognition through its use in Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. Since then, it has become associated with themes of death and terror, especially during the 19th century. After Berlioz, it was used as a theme or musical quotation in many classical compositions, including:

Thomas Adès – Totentanz (2013)
Charles-Valentin Alkan – Souvenirs: , Op. 15 (No. 3: ) (1837)
Eric Ball – "Resurgam" (1950)
Ernest Bloch – (1944)
Mel Bonis - , Op. 107
Johannes Brahms – Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118, No. 6, Intermezzo in E-flat minor (1893)
Andrew Campling - In Paradisum (2002)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – , Op. 195: "XII. " (plate 24) (1961)
Frédéric Chopin - Prelude No. 2 in A Minor, Opus 28 (1839), sometimes referred to as "Presentiment to Death" (or "Prelude to Death").
George Crumb – Black Angels (1970)
Luigi Dallapiccola – Canti di prigionia
Michael Daugherty – Metropolis Symphony 5th movement, "Red Cape Tango"; Dead Elvis for bassoon and chamber ensemble (1993)
Ernő Dohnányi – no. 4 (E-flat minor) of "Four Rhapsodies" for Piano, op. 11
Antonio Estévez - Cantata Criolla (1954)
Alberto Ginastera – Bomarzo, Op. 34 (1967)
Alexander Glazunov – Symphony No. 5 (4th movement), Op. 55 (1885), From the Middle Ages Suite, No. 2 "Scherzo", Op. 79 (1902)
Benjamin Godard – Dante opera, act 4, No. 35 Suite du Finale "Partons !" (1890)
Charles Gounod – Faust opera, act 4 (1859), Mors et vita, part II, oratorio (1886)
Gustav Holst – The Planets, movement 5, "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age"
Arthur Honegger – , 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 – Piano Concerto Op. 38 (1936), Symphony No. 1 (1934), Symphony No. 2 (1944), Concerto-Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, Cello Concerto in E minor, Concerto-Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra, Violin Concerto in D minor
– Preludes on Polish Church Hymns: Dies Irae (1867)
György Ligeti – Le Grand Macabre (1974–77)
Franz Liszt – Totentanz (1849)
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 2, movements 1 and 5 (1888–94)
Jules Massenet – Eve (1927)
Camille Saint-Saëns – ; Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony), Requiem (1878)
Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 14; Aphorisms, Op. 13 – No. 7, "Dance of Death" (1969)
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji – (1948–49) and nine other works
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Modern Greek Song (In Dark Hell) Op. 16 No. 6 (1884); Manfred Symphony (1885)
Frank Ticheli – Vesuvius (1999) for wind band
Eugène Ysaÿe – Solo Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Obsession" (1923)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann – Musique pour les soupers du roi Ubu

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

Michel F. April – main theme of Dead by Daylight soundtrack
Bathory – on the album Blood Fire Death (1988)
Jacques Brel - La Mort on the album La Valse à mille temps (1959) derives its verse melody and several instrumental phrases from the tune. The song is best known in English translation as My Death and has been covered by numerous artists including Scott Walker on Scott (1967).
Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind – Opening theme for The Shining (1980)
Matt Dahan - Opening leitmotif to the song “Damn the Torpedoes” in episode 3 of the radio-style musical series “Pulp Musicals” entitled “The Ghosts of Antikythera”.
Editors – "Lights" on the album The Back Room (2005)
Danny Elfman – "Making Christmas" from The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Gerald Fried – Opening theme for The Return of Dracula, 1958
Hugo Friedhofer – opening scene of Between Heaven and Hell (film) (1956)
Diamanda Galás – Masque of the Red Death: Part I – The Divine Punishment
Michael Giacchino - quoted during the maze bulldozer scene in Zootopia 2 (2025)
Jerry Goldsmith – The Mephisto Waltz (1971), Poltergeist (1982)
Donald Grantham – Baron Cimetiére's Mambo (2004)
Guy Gross – "Salve me Lacrimosa" from the American-Australian television series Farscape
Kirk Hammet – The Incantation (5:57-6:35) on the EP Portals (2022)
Bernard Herrmann quoted in the main theme for Citizen Kane (1941); Jason and the Argonauts (1963) (quoted during the scene of the scattering of the hydra's teeth)
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.
Christopher Larkin - "Enter Pharloom", "Awakening", "Silksong" from the metroidvania Hollow Knight: Silksong (2025).
Jonathan Larson – "La Vie Bohème" from Rent (1996) and its 2005 film adaptation, quoted including lyrics
Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven on the album Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
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)
The Melvins – on their album "Nude with Boots" (2008)
Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) soundtrack; "The Bells of Notre Dame" features passages from the first and second stanzas as lyrics.
Francis Monkman – additional track "Dies Irae" on Sky (1979 studio album by Sky)' (1979)
Ennio Morricone – "Penance" from his score for The Mission (1986)
Lionel Newman – Compulsion
The Newton Brothers - Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining (2019)
Queensrÿche - The opening verses of "Dies Irae" are used at the beginning of the song 'Suite Sister Mary' and other verses throughout that song on their Operation : Mindcrime album
Leonard Rosenman – the main theme of The Car (1977)
Jeff Russo – Mullen's entrance to the Joint Session of Congress from the television series Zero Day score (unknown if included on the 2025 soundtrack).
Saja Boys – "Your Idol" from the animated film KPop Demon Hunters (2025).
Alex Brightman and the Beetlejuice Original Broadway Cast Recording Ensemble - "The Whole "Being Dead" Thing" from the Beetlejuice Broadway musical (2018).
Howard Shore - Leitmotif of the Nazgûl in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) - featured most prominently when the Witch-king summons the armies of Mordor forth from Minas Morgul
Stephen Sondheim – Sweeney Todd – quoted in "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" and the accompaniment to "Epiphany" (1979)
Symphony X – Their album V – The New Mythology Suite references this work multiple times, such as in the song "A Fool's Paradise".
Cristobal Tapia de Veer – The White Lotus opening credits
Lorien Testard – "Spring Meadows - Beneath the Blue Tree" from the role-playing video game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (2025).
John Williams – "Old Man Marley" leitmotif from his score for Home Alone (1990) and quoted in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) when Luke discovers that Imperial Stormtroopers have killed his uncle and aunt.
Hans Zimmer – "The Rightful King" from The Lion King soundtrack, "Rock House Jail" from The Rock soundtrack, and "House Atreides" from the 2021 Dune adaptation.

References

External links

"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