Dies Irae

   The strains of the sinister Dies Irae (“The Day of Wrath”) are heard frequently in STANLEY KUBRICK’s films, particularly throughout THE SHINING and in portions of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. This most famous Christian doomsday hymn has been attributed to the 13th-century composer Thomas of Celano. In the 16th century it became an obligatory part of the Requiem Mass, which has its place at funerals, memorial services, and on All Souls’ Day (November 2). It evokes the apocalyptic picture of the dissolution of the world into ashes and implores the Lord not to cast the repentant sinner into outer darkness. According to music historian Nicolas Slonimsky, “It is monodic and not easily classified as to its modality . . . , a symbolic invocation of millennial resignation. ” Numerous classical composers have quoted it in their works, to demonic effect, most notably Hector Berlioz in the Symphonie Fantastique (1831), where it appears in the fifth section, “The Dream of the Witches’ Sabbat”; Franz Liszt in the monumental Totentanz for Piano and Orchestra (final version, 1865), a series of five variations on the theme; Camille Saint-Saëns in the Danse Macabre (originally a song, 1873), Ottorino Respighi in the Brazilian Impressions (1928), in the second movement, “Butantan”; and Rachmaninoff in many compositions, particularly in the closing pages of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1934) and his last work, the Symphonic Dances (1940).

   References

   ■ Slonimsky, Nicolas, Lectionary of Music (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989).

   J. C. T.