'Dies Irae': Some Recent Manifestations Author(s): Malcolm Boyd Reviewed work(s): Source: Music & Letters, Vol.

49, No. 4 (Oct., 1968), pp. 347-356 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/732291 . Accessed: 14/05/2012 11:50
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'DIES IRAE': SOME RECENT MANIFESTATIONS

BY MALCOLM BOYD

SOMEyears 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 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 -

e, di- cs

l,

. Sol-veL_ -

dum-

in fa- v-

la;

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 compositions, 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 & Lettrs, 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 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 I923. 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 tmile Verhaeren (1855-1916).

Verhaeren's work is almost completely forgotten in this country

2 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.andversedramasenjoyedconsiderable 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 I914. 'Les Aubes', which Verhaeren wrote in I898, 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 I906. 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 their own ideals, and it would be interesting to speculate on Verhaeren's influence upon the protagonists of the I9I7 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 understood 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 Herenien, hero of the play and prophet of the new order. It appears first at fig. 23 on harps, cellos and basses (pizzicato):
Andante sostenuto

87 [+ e lwerJ
f[+ 8ve lower

J J

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

ff C+8velower]

r 90 t:

'-,#r..

I. IJ

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 understanding of the 'Dies irae' as personifying the hero, Jacques HerEnien: 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.8 The movement ends, like the play, in an apocalyptic vision of the new age of which H6renien (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 war of I914-I8, 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:
J_ M-i..0

Violins Harp&
niano ir~- -

-- r
~j

espress. ,P, espress.

i

mf marcato

r
I

r
I }

r
I

lr
I

r
I

[pizz.]

- bs a ri
r

tr r

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
8 I am indebted to Mr. John Wharton of the tcole Internationale, Geneva, for valuable assistance in the translation of Russian texts.

350

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 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 I927. '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.4 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 reference in Dallapiccola's impressive 'Canti di prigionia' (I94I). 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, I962), pp. 226-7.

35I

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 cantus in firmus 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:
7

[>'r[+ octavehigher]
.ppPiasO6 Harps,timpani

J.= -126

j.

J.

j.

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:
J
A 40-42 A A A A A A A

y 9bbtl6s2 pianos Il:2 harps \ ^ ^

1- 0^
-

> ( W

_4
V

A
V

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'sninth 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' (I963). 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' (I962) which uses the plainsong. Stevenson's encyclopedic composition 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 impressivelyat the 275th appearance of the ground, now transferredto the upper reaches of the instrument:
352

Ponderosissimo con paura primevale

ift
^

1f
In memoriamthe six million quasibassipizzicacie pesanti

p^
I $ 1f

F
II I 7t 1

W e
I
Il

TFt
I

I i 1 I

fz

Jr jr

jf

con sommaforza

Having made its primeval effect, the plainsong is then treated contrapuntally as the last of three fugue subjects over the ground bass. The first of these is a freely invented chromatic, almost twelvenote 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

IRAEf

Op. cao

eec S -

-t

-e

C--H ]s

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 plainsong 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 composer'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

j.
rol -

$
I I

:
ling

FT5
seem to

3"

'

'

pr
take a joy in tol ling

7 1
-3>

---

.
3

In this particular example the El'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.S 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 horn theme whose initial phrase (x) is identical with the opening of 'Dies irae':

j;WsW0 J I J
/f sehrbestimmt

^ A

^ A

^ A

J 1U

j U

J |

5 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 o00 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 ;e certainly it fits in with the programme of the symphony as Mahler outlined it in a letter of 1897 to Arthur Seidl.' What is paiticularly 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 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. 6I). 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 I50 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. I Bantock Witches' Dance in 'Macbeth' (1926) 2 Berlioz 'Symphonie fantastique' (1830), V 'Canti di prigionia' (i941) 3 Dallapiccola 'St. Michael', sonata for 17 wind instru4 Davies, Maxwell 5 Khatchaturian 6 Kraft Fantasia 'Dies Irae' for organ (I968). An instrumental paraphrase of the complete melody, omitting lines 4-21 and 37-9 'Totentanz' (1849) *'Das klagende Lied' (i880) *Symphony No. 2 (I894), I & V
ments (1957), II Symphony No. 2 (I943), III

7 Liszt 8 Mahler 9 Mahler

6 H. Redlich, 'Bruckner and Mahler' (London, 1955), p. 16i. 7 Ibid., p. I87.

355

Medtner

*Piano

1I Miaskovsky I2 Moussorgsky

I3

Pierres

I4 Rachmaninov 15 Rachmaninov 16 Rachmaninov 17 i8 9 20

21

no. 3. Listed by Blom and included in Gregory's survey. Passing reference to first four notes only in bars 1-2 'A Litany for the Day of Human Rights' (1963) *'The Isle of the Dead', Op. 29 (I909)
*'The Bells', Op. 35 (1913)

Symphony No. 6 (1923), IV *'Songs and Dances of Death'

probably not deliberate. See, however, E. B. Dolinskaya, 'Nicolas Medtner' (Moscow, 1966), p. 76
(I875),

quintet

(1949).

Quotation

is

Rachmaninov Respighi Saint-Saens Schelling Sorabji

Sorabji

'Symphonic Dances', Op. 45 (1940), III 'Impressioni brasiliane' (1928), II 'Danse macabre', Op. 40 (1874)

'Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini', Op. 43 ( 934)

22

23
24

Stevenson
Stravinsky

'Passacaglia on DSCH', Op. 70 (1962) *Three pieces for string quartet (1914),

'Victory Ball'. Listed by Blom. I have not yet had the opportunity of seeing the score. Variations upon 'Dies irae' '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 III. R. Vlad in his 'Strawinsky' (Italy, I958), 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 resemblance seems purely fortuitous in any

25 Tchaikovsky 26 Tchaikovsky
27

Vaughan Williams

'Five Tudor

Suite No. 3, Op. 55 (I884), IV

Portraits' (I935),

case. Song, 'In dark hell', Op. I6, no. 6 (I872)

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