The Recovering Choir Director

What, no Dies Irae?

Good stuff for the Communion voluntary…

[Post has been corrected. The Dies irae was done in full. -AAE]

The Requiem Mass can be done for a funeral without any “permission” except that of the celebrant-priest.

THAT’S most often the worst “permission” to get—either through ignorance or otherwise, they either don’t know it CAN be done–or prefer NOT to do it.

“I was just wondering, to do a Requiem Mass for a funeral (complete with Kyrie, Sequence, etc), do you need special permission, or can it be done anytime?”

Yes (with the priest’s permission), however, I’d strongly encourage following the Novus Ordo rubrics. If one were to do the Sequence, there’s no provision for it before the Gospel. Accordingly, the Sequence could be sung elsewhere in the liturgy. Also, there’s an Alleluia for the Gospel Acclamation in the Graduale Romanum, which would be normative outside of Lent, in my view. This would obviate the need for the Tract.

Basically, “Sybil” was the name given to female seers or prophetesses in the ancient Near East. The most famous seer of classical times was the Sybil at Delphi, who breathed the fumes which emerged from a small spring of water there, who then went into a trance, and then who spoke in a strange language, which was translated into verse by oracles there.

Going from memory then, as regards the Dies Irae, I believe the context is:

Dies irae, dies illa
solvet saeclum in favilla
teste David cum Sybilla,

which when translated (very roughly) comes out to

Day of wrath, that day
when the age is dissolved in burning ashes
as both David and the Sybil testify.

In that context, the poet is saying that both the Psalmist and the pagans testify to the coming day of judgment for us all. This is simple enough.

By the bye, have you ever noted that you could put the words of the Dies Irae to the tune, Deck the halls with boughs of holly?

Seriously, though, I thought that that particular sequence had been surpressed after the Second Vatican Council. I would be very happy if I could be shown that I was mistaken about that.

Thanks,

Joe

“the theme of the Dies Irae has been quoted over 80 times in longhair music–Rachmaninoff, Strauss, and others.”

Liszt, Berlioz, those wicked Brahms variations…. and the score to very horror film ever made.

It IS one of the greatest tunes of all time. Before I knew there was such a thing as a Requiem Mass I had heard the tune and recognized its power.

And tomorrow someone will probably want “Here I Am” for a funeral Mass.

Well, if it’s comforting (I had one family that thought it would be comfroting to hear “The Little Drummer Bot” for a funeral — in March, I might add.)

In the Old Rite, the Libera is sung after the priest says a short prayer at the casket. This prayer is said after he re-enters the church in cope for the Absolution rite, prior to the Exsequarium.