Music Group 2021-03-18: Dies Irae

Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) is a latin plainchant composed in the mid to late 13th century. It is part of the proper of the medieval Requiem (Mass for the Dead). Its morbidity and foreboding have led to its use in any number of compositions and films.

  Dies Irae — the original plainchant, showing its 13th century notation.
Listen through 02:11 to get the idea. Optional: listen through the end to experience the full, mesmerizing effect of medieval plainchant.

Now that you know how to recognize Dies Irae, listen for it in the following familiar places:

Right at the beginning of     this clip

In a couple of John Williams' scores:           This entire clip            At 08:55 in this clip

 This one's really obvious and one of the best known (play from the beginning).

  In this movie clip, Dies Irae starts at 00:30 — Dies Irae doesn't return after 01:30, but you'll see the beginning of some great Ray Harryhausen animation and accompanying music based on the tritone, the "devil's interval" (a.k.a. raised 4th or lowered 5th).

Start at the 2:00 mark   in this clip and listen for about 40 seconds.

In a throwback to our last session, start at 01:24 in   this clip and listen for a few seconds.

Examples abound in classical music. Here are several:

  Hector Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, 5th movement, Songe d'une nuit de Sabbat (Dream of a Sabbath Night). Start at 02:26 and listen through 5:06.

There's something to be said for stalking. Upon seeing Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hector Berlioz was mesmerized. Even though he barely spoke English, he found the experience to be transformative. He also was quite fond of Ophelia - a little too fond, since he began obsessively waiting for the actress at the stage door and sending her letters, despite her showing absolutely no interest in return.

Fortunately, he turned all of that creepiness inward and began writing Symphonie Fantastique. Considered to be one of the first "program" works, the work tells the tale of a man faced with unrequited love (yeah, that's what we'll call it) who takes a shit-ton of opium and has very strange dreams prior to dying. Through its movements, the man becomes infatuated, sees the woman he's obsessed with dance with another at a ball, gets away from it all in a trip to the country, fantasizes so hard about murdering her that he faces execution, then ends up in Hell at a Witches' Sabbath, over which his poor victim presides. A Witches' Sabbath is a ritualistic orgy of mostly female witches with Satan and other demons where they renounce their faith to the man with the pitchfork (well, at this point in history he's more of a goat).

The actual Dies Irae is at 3:15. The theme comes back a couple of more times, most prominently at 7:50. You'll get a flavor of the initial light-heartedness of the Witches' Sabbath before things start to turn a bit dark.

  Franz Liszt — Totentanz (Dance of Death). (1849). Liszt's Totentanz is a set of variations on Dies Irae. for piano and orchestra. Starts at 00:29; listen through 3:57 to hear the striking piano glissandi. Then listen from 6:32 through 8:10 or so to hear the fugue, requiring some really virtuostic piano playing!
Even though it is about 17 minutes long, it never leaves the key of D minor. It explores the various aspects of death as seen through medieval eyes and romanticized by 19th century aesthetics.

  Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Opus 43 (1934).
Listen to 3:23 thru 4:23 and again 5:28 through 6:18.
Mary referenced Rachmaninov's main theme last week. You can listen to it as Variation 23, from lead-in at 14:00 thru 16:46. There's nothing like hearing Rachmaninov playing his own music. :)

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