Dies Irae

American  

[dee-eys eer-ey] / ˈdi eɪs ˈɪər eɪ /

noun

1. a Latin hymn on the Day of Judgment, commonly sung in a Requiem Mass.

---

Dies Irae British  

/ ˈdiːeɪz ˈɪəraɪ /

noun

1. Christianity a famous Latin hymn of the 13th century, describing the Last Judgment. It is used in the Mass for the dead

2. a musical setting of this hymn, usually part of a setting of the Requiem

---

Etymology

Origin of Dies Irae

literally: day of wrath

Example Sentences

Still, the books wouldn’t have to face that Dies Irae for a while yet.

From Washington Post • Sep. 30, 2020

Mozart’s Dies Irae needed a rage to match Pärt, and that meant that everything else had to be raised to that kind of emotional level as well.

From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2016

Petrenko grasped the existential terror determining the work's mood swings, from the dark resonance of the Gregorian Dies Irae to manic tone rows and a macabre excursion to an Andalusian bar, with a death rattle on castanets.

From The Guardian • May 5, 2013

Mr. Noseda, an Italian-born conductor who has worked extensively in opera, boldly draws out the score’s operatic elements, as in his stunning account of the fitful Dies Irae, while vividly conveying its overall organic structure.

From New York Times • Sep. 29, 2012

It must not be thought that, because so much attention is given to the Dies Irae, this constitutes the only supremely great hymn of the Thirteenth Century.

From The Thirteenth Greatest of Centuries by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)