Dies Irae
- excerpt from A New Book of Old Hymns (pdf)
- video (external link)
- Crossword Puzzle (pdf) plus a shorter web Online Crossword Puzzle (html)
- Quizlet set (external link)
- Spotify playlist (external link)
Dies iræ, dies illa,
Dies iræ, dies illa,
Day {of wrath} day that
Day of wrath, day of mourning
Solvet sæclum in favilla:
Solvet sæclum in favilla:
Dissolves ages in ashes
Heaven and earth in ashes burning
Teste David cum Sibylla.
Teste David cum Sibylla.
Testifies David with {the Sybil}
See fulfilled the prophet's warning
There are so many translations of this one hymn - literally hundreds in English alone. For the hymnbook I went with Fr J Aylward and William Wingfield. Above I attempted the W J Irons translation from memory, which features two syllable rhymes as in the Latin.
Cool Recordings
- Brandt version
- Patrick Lenk Thunderous Arrangement
- Trad Organist
- Verbum Gloriae
- Graduale Project
- Dominicans
There’s a very cool mini documentary from Tom Allen at CBC Music that goes through some of the classical pieces and movie music. It’s wrong about the Church teaching that Pope Gregory wrote down Gregorian chant dictated from a white dove.