A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Dies Iræ
DIES IRÆ (Prosa de Mortuis. Prosa de Die Judicii. Sequentia in Commemoratione Defunctorum. Ώ όργης έκείν ημερα). The Sequence, or Prose, appointed, in the Roman Missal, to be sung, between the Epistle and Gospel—that is to say, immediately after the Gradual and Tractus—in Masses for the Dead.
The truth of the tradition which ascribes the Poetry to Thomas de Celano, the friend, disciple, and biographer, of S. Francis of Assisi, seems to be established, beyond all controversy. F. Thomas was admitted to the Order of the Friars Minor soon after its formation; enjoyed the privilege of the closest intimacy with its saintly Founder; and is proved, by clear internal evidence, to have written his 'Vita Sancti Francisci' between Oct. 4, 1226, on which day the death of the Saint took place, and May 25, 1230—the date of the translation of his Relics. This well-established fact materially strengthens the tradition that the 'Dies iræ' was written not very many years after the beginning of the 13th century; and effectually disposes of the date given by some modern Hymnologists, who, though attributing the Sequence to Thomas de Celano, assert that it was composed circa 1150. F. Bartholomoeus Pisanus (ob. 1401) says that it was written by Frater Thomas, who came from Celanum; and that it was sung in Masses for the Dead. But, many years seem to have elapsed before its use became general. It is very rarely found, in early MS. Missals, either in England, France, or Germany; and is wanting in many dating as late as the close of the 15th century, or the beginning of the 16th. It is doubtful, indeed, whether its use was recognized in all countries, until its insertion in the Missale Romanum rendered it a matter of obligation.
As an example of the grandest form of mediæval Latin Poetry—the rhymed prose[1] which here attains its highest point of perfection—the 'Dies iræ' stands unrivalled. Not even the 'Stabat Mater' of Jacobus de Benedictis, written nearly a century later, can be fairly said to equal it. For, in that, the verses are pervaded, throughout, by one unchanging sentiment of overwhelming sorrow; whereas, in the 'Dies iræ,' wrath, terror, hope, devotion, are each, in turn, used as a natural preparation for the concluding prayer for 'Eternal rest.' The tenderness of expression which has rendered some of its stanzas so deservedly famous, is contrasted, in other verses, with a power of diction, which, whether clothed in epic or dramatic form, is forcible enough to invest its awful subject with an all-absorbing interest, a terrible reality, which the hearer finds it impossible to resist. A great variety of unfamiliar 'readings' is to be found in early copies. The version believed to be the oldest is that known as the Marmor Mantuanum, in which, among other variations from the version contained in the Roman Missal, four stanzas, each consisting of three rhymed verses, precede the authorized text. Sir Walter Scott's rendering of the opening stanzas, at the end of 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel,' is known to every one. A very fine English paraphrase, by the Rev. W. I. Irons, B.D., beginning, 'Day of wrath, day of mourning!' is inserted, in company with the old Plain Song Melody, in the Rev. T. Helmore's 'Hymnal Noted.' Innumerable German translations are extant, of which the best-known is that beginning, 'Tag des Zorns, du Tag der Fülle.'
The old Ecclesiastical Melody is a remarkably fine one, in Modes i. and ii. (Mixed Dorian) ranging throughout the entire extent of the combined Scale, with the exception of the Octave to the Final. No record of its origin, or authorship, has been preserved; but we can scarcely doubt, that, if not composed by Thomas de Celano himself, it was adapted to his verses at the time of their completion. Fine as this Melody is, it has not been a favourite with the greatest of the Polyphonic Masters; partly, no doubt, on account of the limited number of Dioceses in which the Sequence was sung, prior to its incorporation in the Roman Missal; and, partly because it has been a widespread custom, from time immemorial, to dispense with the employment of Polyphonic Harmony, in Masses for the Dead. The 'Dies iræ' is wanting in Palestrina's 'Missa pro Defunctis,' for five Voices, printed at the end of the third edition of his First Book of Masses (Rome, 1591); and, in that by Vittoria, sung in 1603 at the Funeral of the Empress Maria, wife of Maximilian II., and printed at Madrid in 1605. It is found, however, in not a few Masses by Composers of somewhat lower rank; as, for instance, in a Missa pro Defunctis, for four Voices, by Giovanni Matteo Asola (Venice, 1586); in one for eight Voices, by Orazio Vecchi (Antwerp, 1612); in one for four Voices, by Francesco Anerio; and in one for four Voices, by Pitoni. In all these Masses, the old Ecclesiastical Melody is employed as the basis of the composition; but Pitoni has marred the design of an otherwise great work, by the introduction of alternate verses, written in a style quite unsuited to the solemnity of the text.
With modern Composers the 'Dies iræ' has always been a popular subject; and more than one great master has adapted its verses to Music of a broadly imaginative, if not a distinctly dramatic character. Among the most important settings of this class, we may enumerate those by Colonna and Bassani, copies of which are to be found in the Library of the Royal College of Music; that in Mozart's Requiem, of which, whether Mozart composed it or not, we may safely say that it was written by the greatest Composer of Church Music that the School of Vienna ever produced: the two great settings by Cherubini; the first, in his Requiem in C Minor, and the second, in that in D Minor; the extraordinarily realistic settings in the Requiems of Berlioz and Verdi; and finally, the setting in Gounod's 'Mors et Vita.' For farther information concerning the poem and other musical compositions on the words, the reader is referred to a series of articles in 'The Musical Review' (Novello) for June, 1883.- ↑ See vol. iii. p. 465 b.