t

'DIES IRAE':
SOME RECENT MANIFESTATIONS
BY MALCOLM BOYD

SOME years ago Robin Gregory contributed an article to this journal

in which he outlined the origins and early history of the 'Dies irae'
sequence and went on to describe some of the secular contexts in
which the melody has appeared from Berlioz onwards.1 That his

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survey now stands in need of some amplification is testimony to the
continued fascination which the tune has had for composers in our
own century. Mr. Gregory's main conclusion, that "quotation of
Dies Irae has . . . been overdone", is probably even truer now than
it was fifteen years ago, but there are at least some modern works
which have enriched the symbolism that has grown around the
ancient plainsong melody. The melody itself, or at least that part of
it which has been most frequently quoted in secular compositions,
will be familiar enough to every reader, but quotation here will
facilitate reference later on:

Di - es i - rae, d i - c s il - la, Sol - vet sac - dum_ in fi- vil - la;

I
tes - te Da-vid cum Si-byl-la.

Composers rarely introduce more of the plainsong than these three

phrases, to which the first stanza of the sequence is sung in the
Requiem Mass. Berlioz, who must claim priority in the secular use
of this melody, quotes a good deal more of it in the finale of the
'Symphonie fantastique' than has generally been recognized by
analysts and commentators. As well as the first two phrases shown
above, he uses three others associated first with lines 7, 53, and 9 of
the text. Such extensive reference is not to be found in later com-
positions, where in most cases only the first phrase or two have
been used. In some instances indeed, as will be shown later, the
first four notes have been considered sufficient to identify the theme.
The melody of 'Dies irae' is clearly not likely to appeal to a
composer on its purely musical merits. The low tessitura and the
restricted range (all the notes of the first two lines are contained
1
R. Gregory, 'Dies Irae', Music & Letters, xxxiv (1953), pp. 133-9.

347
within the interval of a perfect fourth) combine to suggest a mood
of dark foreboding, perhaps, but as a tune the 'Dies irae' is far less
attractive than other sequence melodies, such as the well-known
'Victimae paschali laudes' and 'Veni sancte spiritus'. Nor does
it lend itself readily to intellectual processes of composition. Few
composers have attempted canons, inversions, retrogrades and so on,
though many have presented the melody in varied rhythms. One
might suppose that the Dorian seventh would prove embarrassing
to many nineteenth- and early twentieth-century composers, but
in fact it is surprisingly uncommon to find the note C sharpened in a
D minor context. On the other hand, it is not surprising that most
composers either quote the plainsong in unison or, following
Berlioz's example, support it with parallel harmonies, as in the

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example by Khatchaturian quoted on p. 350.
The plainsong appealed to the Romantic composer not so much
for its musical possibilities as for its association with the words in
the Requiem Mass to which it was originally sung. For more than
750 years Thomas a Celano's magnificent poem, a graphic portrayal
of the Day of Judgment, has struck fear into the mind of the
believer and wrung repentance from the heart of the sinner. By a
process of gradual assimilation in secular music the terror of Celano's
last judgment has become more generalized, and the melody has
acquired connotations of malevolence, devilry and witchcraft
which have no place in the original text. It is no accident, perhaps,
that nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers of Requiems
have on the whole avoided reference to the plainsong in their settings
of 'Dies irae'. 2 Pizzetti's use of it in extenso is exceptional, but his
Requiem is unaccompanied and therefore quotation does not so
readily summon up memories of the concert hall. Berlioz, Liszt
and Saint-Saens used the plainsong in contexts which are familiar
to all concert-goers, but the nation which has most closely identified
itself with the theme is, curiously enough, not France or any other
Roman Catholic country but Russia. Gregory mentioned famous
instances in works by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov but omitted
any reference to its appearance in more recent symphonies by
Miaskovsky and Khatchaturian. The sixth of Miaskovsky's 27
symphonies was completed in 1923. According to the anonymous
writer of the introduction to the Philharmonia miniature score of
the work, Miaskovsky wrote it at a time when he was deeply
affected by the death of two people very close to him; but an even
stronger reason for the employment of 'Dies irae' in the symphony
seems to lie in the relation of the work to the verse drama 'Les
Aubes' by the Belgian poet fimile Verhaeren (1855-1916).
Verhaeren's work is almost completely forgotten in this country
8
According to Gregory (loc. cit.) and others (e.g. Blom in his 'Everyman's Dictionary
of Music') Berlioz introduces the plainsong into his 'Grande Messe des morts'. I have not
identified it there myself. Nor have I traced it in Liszt's 'Dante' symphony, though the
same authorities mention its presence in that score as well.

348
today, but his poems and verse dramas enjoyed considerable vogue
in the early decades of the century, particularly in France and
Germany. Many of them were translated into English, and Stefan
Zweig's highly appreciative monograph of the poet was published in
an English translation in 1914. 'Les Aubes', which Verhaeren
wrote in 1898, is a drama of personal heroism, but even more it is
a story of revolution into which the fate of a whole people is drawn.
Its theme is one that closely parallels the Russian political
aspirations which first found militant expression in the events of
1906. In that year there were published two Russian translations of
'Les Aubes', Tchoulkov's version in St. Petersburg and the one by
Vorotnikov and Chambinago in Moscow. Menshevik and Bolshevik
sympathizers must have found the play an eloquent expression of

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their own ideals, and it would be interesting to speculate on
Verhaeren's influence upon the protagonists of the 1917 revolution.
In a general way the first three movements of Miaskovsky's
symphony can be related to the first three acts of Verhaeren's play.
But whereas they are musically self-sufficient, the loosely-knit
finale (in which the 'Dies irae' makes its appearance) can be under-
stood only by reference to the events in the last act of Verhaeren's
drama. The bluff confidence of the opening tune suggests the crowd's
rejoicing at the success of the revolution, and the 'Dies irae' theme
is evidently associated with the death of Jacques H6renien, hero of
the play and prophet of the new order. It appears first at fig. 23
on harps, cellos and basses (pizzicato):

Andante sostenuto

^ ' • J J J j I J j j M J J ' J JTj J IJ J J *=te=

[ + 8ve loaer]

and later on is presented more forcefully on lower woodwind, brass

and strings, with the Dorian seventh sharpened to accommodate a
diatonic harmonization:
Allegro vivace .

r
ffl+8i>eloueT]

After its second appearance, the opening descending semitone of the

plainsong is taken up by sopranos and tenors in a kind of choral
wailing reminiscent of the accompaniment to the idiot's lament in
Moussorgsky's 'Boris Godounov'. Out of this emerges a folk-like
melody to which the altos and basses sing a 'hymn' of three short
strophes, punctuated by the 'wailing' motif of the sopranos and
tenors. The words of the chorus at this point reinforce our under-
standing of the 'Dies irae' as personifying the hero, Jacques
He're'nien:

349
 What did we see ? A wonderful omen, a dead body.
For the soul is separated from the body and departs.
You, my soul must proceed to the judgment of God,
And you, my body, into the damp ground.'
The movement ends, like the play, in an apocalyptic vision of the
new age of which Herenien (like Verhaeren himself) had been so
persuasive a prophet.
Miaskovsky uses the 'Dies irae' to add a note of solemnity to
music associated with death. Khatchaturian's intentions are very
similar in the slow movement of his second symphony (1943), and in
this work too the theme exists side by side with Russian (or more
exactly Armenian) folk material. Although the symphony goes under
the nickname of 'The Bell', Khatchaturian's programme is the

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war of 1914-18, and in the third movement, we are told, he set out
to express the inconsolable grief of a mother for her dead soldier
son. In fact, the expression is far less personal than this; the dotted
rhythms and steady tread of a funeral procession, the Armenian
folksong ('Varskau akhpev') and the first line of 'Dies irae' all
contribute to a much more general expression of mourning.
Khatchaturian introduces the plainsong at fig. 17 with block
harmonies in the violins, the bass maintaining the tread of the
funeral cortege, and the harp and piano adding the extraneous
reiterations of a single passing bell:

Violins

Harp&
piano

Harp, piano,
cellos, basses
[pizz.]

v = —_J
f
' • •

The recognition of 'Dies irae' in any secular piece inevitably

invites one to look for some extra-musical stimulus to its composition.
In the Miaskovsky and Khatchaturian symphonies the theme
makes its expressive point and is on the whole well integrated into
the fabric of the music. What makes its appearance in Tchaikovsky's
3
I am indebted to Mr. John Wharton of the ficole Internationale, Geneva, for
valuable assistance in the translation of Russian texts.

350
introduction to a choral setting of lines from the prayer of Mary
Stuart. The second song, to a text from Boethius, uses it in the
manner of a cantusfimusin long notes. Around it are woven swiftly
flowing strands of counterpoint spun from the note-row which
supplies the rest of the basic material for the whole work:
J - = 126
, [ + octave htgher]

, Pbaos
Hupft onpam

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At the beginning of the last song, the 'Congedo di Giralomo
Savonarola', the 'Dies irae' is harmonized in a virile chorale style
with phrases from the row serving as a bass:

2 pianos,
2 harps

The plainsong pervades this movement even more than it did the
other two, and Dallapiccola now draws upon the first three lines
of the melody, not only the first one. His treatment is very varied,
including a timpani solo and, more traditionally, a harmonization
in block triads.
Dallapiccola's use of the 'Dies irae' in a context of imprisonment
and oppression is interesting, for there are at least two other recent
instances of composers (probably not influenced by Dallapiccola,
be it said) who have used the plainsong for similar effect. One of
them is Thor Pierres, who falls back upon it (and, for that matter,
upon the 'chorale' theme from Beethoven's ninth symphony as well)
in a futile attempt to bring some dignity and effectiveness to his
mundane setting of Salvador da Madariaga's 'A Litany for the Day
of Human Rights' (1963). Persecution, this time of the Jews in
Hitler's concentration camps, is again the theme of that part of
Ronald Stevenson's recently published 'Passacaglia on DSCH'
(1962) which uses the plainsong. Stevenson's encyclopedic com-
position is a work for solo piano in the traditions of Liszt and Busoni,
consisting of some 320 variations of a seven-bar ground-bass theme
constructed from the initial letters of Shostakovich's name. The
'Dies irae' enters impressively at the 275th appearance of the ground,
now transferred to the upper reaches of the instrument:
352
 Ponderosissimo con paora primevale

iIn mcmoriam the she million

quasi bassi pizzkati e paand
m
/* f* f* ft
Pit
con somma fotza

Having made its primeval effect, the plainsong is then treated

contrapuntally as the last of three fugue subjects over the ground

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bass. The first of these is a freely invented chromatic, almost twelve-
note melody, and the second is the unpromising but much-used
motif made from the notes B-A-C-H. The climax to all this musical
name-dropping comes when all three fugue subjects are played
simultaneously with the ground bass itself:

[B

C - -HI

One cannot expect the 'Dies irae' to go much farther than this,
and there remain for consideration only a few 'borderline' cases:
that is, passages in which it is impossible to be certain whether the
composer has intended an allusion to the theme or not. In most
cases the doubt arises because only the first four notes of the plain-
song are quoted (the phrase (x) in the last example on p. 354).
Rachmaninov's symphonic poem 'The Isle of the Dead' is a case
in point. Gregory, together with most writers on Rachmaninov's
music, recognizes the 'Dies irae' here, presumably in' the passage
beginning eleven bars after fig. 22. However, only the first four
notes are employed, and in spite of the subject and title of the piece
the possibility of a mere coincidence seems very strong indeed. In
any case it is curious that an allusion to the melody has been
universally accepted in this work, whereas no one seems to have
commented so far upon a possible reference to it in the same com-
poser's setting of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Bells'. In the last movement
especially there are a number of passages where the trochaic
tetrameters of Balmont's Russian translation and the subject of
mourning bells seem to have brought the ancient melody to
Rachmaninov's mind:

353
Suite no. 3 so puzzling to us is precisely the lack of any programme
to explain its presence there. An equally curious example of its
use is found at the very end of the second of Respighi's three
'Impressioni brasiliane' (1928). The listener is likely to be puzzled
here by a dramatic halt in the music followed by a roll on the bass
drum, above which the first two lines of the 'Dies irae' are heard
high on the violins (tremolando), doubled four octaves below on the
cellos. The explanation for this particular occurrence must be sought
in the guide-books to Brazil. The title of the movement is 'Butantan',
a suburb of Sao Paulo where the Butantan Institute houses its
world-famous snake farm and carries on research into anti-venom
serums. Of professional interest to the natural scientist, the Butantan

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Institute is also one of Sao Paulo's main tourist attractions, and it
seems that Respighi visited the snake farm during his concert tour
of Brazil in 1927. 'Butantan' is evidently an attempt to portray the
snakes in musical terms, and Respighi does this mainly by writing
sinuous, slithering passages for the woodwind. His introduction
into the piece of the 'Dies irae' theme is still a little obscure, but a
description of the snake farm such as Robin Bryans has given can
help us to understand his motives better:

A vertical concrete wall lined the pits. There was grass at the bottom
and here the venomous, mottled coils lay like cow-claps in the sun,
or slid evilly over the grass or even tried to climb the walls. One of
the pits was devoted to huge poisonous frogs whose bite was
death for certain types of snake which attacked them . . . Little
houses like miniature igloos had been built for the snakes to snooze
in with comfort and darkness,- rather like the five-foot-high anthills
• of the interior- which snakes liked to take over when the ants
abandoned them. Hundreds of snakes lived in the pits, including
some enormous rattlesnakes, and all were as poisonous as a brood of
Borgias.«

Respighi obviously intended to portray in music both the snakes'

physical characteristics and their deadly qualities. But even
allowing for the irrational response which the reptiles arouse in
most of us, one must question the propriety of using the 'Dies irae'
in such a context. Works like this have tended to diminish the
effect which judicious use of the plainsong can produce.
Having already done service for the death of heroes, for witches,
the devil and snakes, the 'Dies irae' was given a new term of re-
ference in Dallapiccola's impressive 'Canti di prigionia' (1941).
Apart from Liszt's 'Totentanz', no secular work has relied more upon
the ancient plainsong than does this prayerful outcry against
tyranny and oppression. The theme appears in all three movements,
and is used, as it rarely has been elsewhere, to serve structural as
well as expressive ends. In the opening movement the first line of
the plainsong is absorbed into the texture of the instrumental
4
R. Bryans, 'Fanfare for Brazil' (London, 1962), pp. 226-7.

35*
 BARITONE SOLO

dt.
Those rc--lent-less voi - cej
A String* (tran.)

I*
f

seem to take a joy in tol

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In this particular example the Etj's add to the doubt, and one is
inclined to look upon the appearance of 'Dies irae', in both this
work and 'The Isle of the Dead', as coincidences only. Certainly
it was not until much later that Rachmaninov himself probed at
all deeply into the character of the melody. Joseph Yasser, writing
about the events of October 1931, says:
He [Rachmaninoff] began to tell me that he was very much
interested in the familiar medieval chant, Dies Irae, usually known
to musicians (including himself) only by its first lines, used so often
in various musical works as a 'Death theme'. However, he wished
to obtain the whole music of this funeral chant, if it existed (though
he wasn't sure of this); he would be extremely grateful for my help
in this matter, for he had not time for the necessary research.
He also asked about the significance of the original Latin text
of this chant . . . without offering a word of explanation for his
keen interest in this.5
The explanation of Rachmaninov's keen interest came with the
'Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini' and the 'Symphonic Dances'.
Mahler's second symphony presents another interesting example
of a 'borderline' case. Into the working-out of the first movement
(eight bars before fig. 17) there intrudes a hom theme whose
initial phrase (x) is identical with the opening of 'Dies irae':
A A A A

ti\f itkr baammt

• J. Yasser, 'Pamyati Rakhmaninovna', ed. M. V. Dobuzhinsky (New York, 1964);

quoted in S. Bertensson and J. Leyda, 'Serge Rachmaninoff' (New York, 1956), p. 278.

354
This theme plays no further part in the first movement, and indeed
is completely absent from the music until over i oo pages later on in
the score, where it assumes a dominant role in the orchestral
introduction to Klopstock's 'Resurrection Hymn'. On balance it
seems that Hans Redlich is probably right in assuming this reference
to 'Dies irae' to be deliberate ;• certainly it fits in with the programme
of the symphony as Mahler outlined it in a letter of 1897 to Arthur
Seidl.7 What is particularly interesting about Mahler's theme is
that it is precisely its initial resemblance to the plainsong that
ensures its recognition much later on in the work. Similar remarks
could be made about 'Das klagende Lied', though in the case of
that work it is even more difficult to say whether Mahler's reference

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to the plainsong was intentional. Again it is confined to the first four
notes (five bars before fig. 5), and the theme is heard only once
more in the whole work (at fig. 61). However, intentional or not, a
passing reference in a relevant context has again given point to a
theme whose structural significance would probably otherwise be
missed.
In the course of the last 150 years or so the melody of'Dies irae'
has gradually accumulated a wealth of symbolism which composers
have not been slow to exploit, if not always to good effect. By the
law of diminishing returns its power as a symbol has lately declined,
and composers of the next 150 years are likely to find less use for it in
secular works. This should be a comfort to ecclesiastical authority
at least. Martin Luther is said to have defended the Reformed
Church's use of contrafacta with the question "Why should the
Devil have all the best tunes?". Here is one good tune which has,
in every sense, gone to the devil.

The following list of secular references, which does not claim to be

exhaustive, is intended to correct and supplement that given by
Blom in his 'Everyman's Dictionary of Music' and in 'Grove'.
Arrangement is alphabetical according to composer, and an asterisk
indicates those works in which quotation of the plainsong might not
have been deliberately intended by the composer.
1 Bantock Witches' Dance in 'Macbeth' (1926)
2 Berlioz 'Symphonie fantastique' (1830), V
3 Dallapiccola 'Canti di prigionia' (1941)
4 Davies, Maxwell 'St. Michael', sonata for 17 wind instru-
ments (1957), II
5 Khatchaturian Symphony No. 2 (1943), III
6 Kraft Fantasia'Dies Irae'for organ (1968). An
instrumental paraphrase of the com-
plete melody, omitting lines 4-21
and 37-9
7 Liszt 'Totentanz' (1849)
8 Mahler •'Das klagende Lied' (1880)
9 Mahler *Symphony No. 2 (1894), I & V
• H. Redlich, 'Bruckner and Mahler' (London, 1955), p. 161.
' Ibid., p. 187.

355
 io Medtner * Piano quintet (1949). Quotation is
probably not deliberate. See, how-
ever, E. B. Dolinskaya, 'Nicolas
Medtner' (Moscow, 1966), p. 76
11 Miaskovsky Symphony No. 6 (1923), IV
12 Moussorgsky •'Songs and Dances of Death' (1875),
no. 3. Listed by Blom and included
in Gregory's survey. Passing reference
to first four notes only in bars 1-2
13 Pierres 'A Litany for the Day of Human
Rights' (1963)
14 Rachmaninov *'The Isle of the Dead', Op. 29 (1909)
15 Rachmaninov *'The Bells', Op. 35(1913)
16 Rachmaninov 'Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini',
Op. 43 0934)

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17 Rachmaninov 'Symphonic Dances', Op. 45 (1940), I I I
18 Respighi 'Impressioni brasiliane' (1928), II
19 Saint-Saens 'Danse macabre', Op. 40 (1874)
20 Schelling 'Victory Ball'. Listed by Blom. I have
not yet had the opportunity of seeing
the score.
21 Sorabji Variations upon 'Dies irae'
22 Sorabji 'Sequentia cyclica' upon 'Dies irae'.
These two works are listed in T. W.
Gervais's article on the composer in
'Grove'. Both remain in manuscript
23 Stevenson 'Passacaglia on DSCH', Op. 70 (1962)
24 Stravinsky *Three pieces for string quartet (1914),
III. R. Vlad in his 'Strawinsky' (Italy,
1958), p. 70 identifies the first five
notes of the plainsong at bars 3-4, etc.
A misprint in the music example
(repeated in the English translation of
the book, p. 53) removes some of the
point from his remark, but the resem-
blance seems purely fortuitous in any
case.
25 Tchaikovsky Song, 'In dark hell', Op. 16, no. 6 (1872)
26 Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3, Op. 55 (1884), IV
27 Vaughan Williams 'Five Tudor Portraits' (1935), no. 4.
I have made no attempt to locate and record the appearances of
'Dies irae' in film scores; they are probably legion, I have, however,
noticed it in Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal' and in the Fernandel film
known in this country as 'The Sheep has Five Legs'.

356