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.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of Dies Irae

literally: day of wrath

Example Sentences

Does Adès also nod to “E sempre lava!” from Puccini’s “Tosca”? Maybe Tchaikovsky and the Dies Irae, too?

From New York Times • Apr. 29, 2022

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

Among his smaller works, the eclogue of Virgil and the Dies Irae are well translated; though the best line in the Dies Irae is borrowed from Dryden.

From Lives of the Poets, Volume 1 by Johnson, Samuel