Why was the Dies Irae removed from the Requiem Mass in the Ordinary Form?

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The Dies Irae Sequence from the Requiem Mass is one of my favorites. It starts out very dark, terrifying, and imposing, but it moves on to become a very moving plea for Jesus’ mercy. It’s really a great prayer that puts everything into perspective. Does anybody know why this was removed in the OF Requiem? Why would anybody want to remove something so beautiful?
 
Paxvobis said:
The Dies Irae Sequence from the Requiem Mass is one of my favorites. It starts out very dark, terrifying, and imposing, but it moves on to become a very moving plea for Jesus’ mercy. It’s really a great prayer that puts everything into perspective. Does anybody know why this was removed in the OF Requiem? Why would anybody want to remove something so beautiful?
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I agree. But wasn’t the entire Requiem Mass replaced in 1970?
 
I tend to agree, but from what I understand it was mostly seen as a drudge to do. The vast majority of Masses pro defunctis were low Masses anyway, which meant that the priest would just have to stand there and read the whole thing to himself silently. By the hundredth time of doing that, I think it might have started to lose some of its charm. Meanwhile, at a sung Mass, it takes so long – especially in any of the virtuosic orchestral confections – that it can force the priest to just wait around and delay the Mass for upwards of ten minutes sometimes. That’s out of keeping with the legislation of Pius X’s motu proprio on sacred music: “It is not lawful to keep the priest at the altar waiting on account of the chant or the music for a length of time not allowed by the liturgy.” When I’ve seen Mozart’s requiem done, the priest doesn’t even bother waiting at the altar but goes and sits down to listen to the concert. As Pius X complained, “it must be considered a very grave abuse when the liturgy in ecclesiastical functions is made to appear secondary to and in a manner at the service of the music, for the music is merely a part of the liturgy and its humble handmaid.”

Would have been nice if they had left it as an occasional option at sung Masses, though, perhaps forbidding any polyphonic or orchestral settings and requiring that only the Gregorian or a simpler melody be used.
 
By the way, to get a sense of how this was viewed, I came across this question-and-answer entry from the 1948 American Ecclesiastical Review:

THE PROBLEM OF FIVE OR SIX DIES IRAE THE SAME DAY

Question: An organist tells us that he cannot sing the entire Dies irae for every Mass on a day when there are five or six scheduled Requiems. That would mean 110 or 132 verses of the Sequence alone besides the rest of the chant for the Mass. Can any compromise be made in the matter or must all twenty-two verses be sung every time the Dies irae is prescribed?

Answer: There seems to be no way out of singing the entire Dies irae with its twenty-two verses. Such is the decision of the Congregation of Rites (4054 ad V). The Sequence is an integral part of the text of the Mass to be sung by the choir and cannot be curtailed any more than one is at liberty to abbreviate the chant of the Gloria or Credo. It does make demands on the singers but if the same deacon and subdeacon serve at the five or six Requiems celebrated on the same day they have had some robust vocal exercise also.
 
Paxvobis said:
The Dies Irae Sequence from the Requiem Mass is one of my favorites. It starts out very dark, terrifying, and imposing, but it moves on to become a very moving plea for Jesus’ mercy. It’s really a great prayer that puts everything into perspective. Does anybody know why this was removed in the OF Requiem? Why would anybody want to remove something so beautiful?
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Was it ever a part of the Ordinary Form?
 
MarkThompson said:
I tend to agree, but from what I understand it was mostly seen as a drudge to do. The vast majority of Masses pro defunctis were low Masses anyway, which meant that the priest would just have to stand there and read the whole thing to himself silently. By the hundredth time of doing that, I think it might have started to lose some of its charm. Meanwhile, at a sung Mass, it takes so long – especially in any of the virtuosic orchestral confections – that it can force the priest to just wait around and delay the Mass for upwards of ten minutes sometimes. That’s out of keeping with the legislation of Pius X’s motu proprio on sacred music: “It is not lawful to keep the priest at the altar waiting on account of the chant or the music for a length of time not allowed by the liturgy.” When I’ve seen Mozart’s requiem done, the priest doesn’t even bother waiting at the altar but goes and sits down to listen to the concert. As Pius X complained, “it must be considered a very grave abuse when the liturgy in ecclesiastical functions is made to appear secondary to and in a manner at the service of the music, for the music is merely a part of the liturgy and its humble handmaid.”
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Yes, but it begs the question of why it doesn’t even exist in the Novus Ordo. There are, I think, explanations (perhaps “rationalizations” is more appropriate) for its notable absence from the Novus Ordo that are quite far removed from any “time factor” considerations.
MarkThompson said:
Would have been nice if they had left it as an occasional option at sung Masses, though, perhaps forbidding any polyphonic or orchestral settings and requiring that only the Gregorian or a simpler melody be used.
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I have to agree with that, and that even for the Usus Antiquior. I’m not a big fan of polyphonic Mass settings in the first place, but the rare Sequences are something that, I think, should be done only in their Chant settings.
 
Thank Annibale Bugnini. He stated this:

They got rid of texts that smacked of a negative spirituality inherited from the Middle Ages. Thus they removed such familiar and even beloved texts as the Libera me, Domine, the Dies Iræ, and others that overemphasized judgment, fear, and despair. These they replaced with texts urging Christian hope and arguably giving more effective expression to faith in the resurrection.

Really is a shame. Get rid of or water down everything he could was his solution. Why did this one man have so much power in changing the Liturgy? It frustrates me more everyday I read of everything we lost.
 
hudson said:
They got rid of texts that smacked of a negative spirituality inherited from the Middle Ages. Thus they removed such familiar and even beloved texts as the Libera me, Domine, the Dies Iræ, and others that overemphasized judgment, fear, and despair. These they replaced with texts urging Christian hope and arguably giving more effective expression to faith in the resurrection.
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This is my understanding of the reasoning for the change as well and I agree, it really is a shame. And, I think that after Mozart’s Requeim, no other needs to be written. Even though it was finished by someone else, we can certainly see Mozart’s divinely inspired touch throughout most of the work, especially in the Sequentiae and even in the several sections wherein he only had the time to sketch out either the vocal parts or the instrumentals. It is a glorious, profound work of great Christian faith and mysticism, written by a Protestant for the Latin mass!

Granted, I’m biased because I’ve worked on choreography for this work over the last several years. It is as challenging to set dance to as I’m sure it must be to sing and play instrumental for, and I’ve rarely been satisfied with my own efforts, though I keep at it!
 
hudson said:
Thank Annibale Bugnini. He stated this:

They got rid of texts that smacked of a negative spirituality inherited from the Middle Ages. Thus they removed such familiar and even beloved texts as the Libera me, Domine, the Dies Iræ, and others that overemphasized judgment, fear, and despair. These they replaced with texts urging Christian hope and arguably giving more effective expression to faith in the resurrection.

Really is a shame. Get rid of or water down everything he could was his solution. Why did this one man have so much power in changing the Liturgy? It frustrates me more everyday I read of everything we lost.
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According to that, the thanks belong not to Abp. Bugnini, but to the cardinals and bishops who comprised the Consilium. Fortunately, we have records about those times, like Bugnini’s book, unlike the Consilium that Pius V appointed after Trent to write the Missale Romanum, which stripped out and junked literally hundreds of Sequences from the Mass (even the Stabat Mater(!), which Pope Benedict XIII at last restored in 1727).
Faithdancer said:
This is my understanding of the reasoning for the change as well and I agree, it really is a shame. After Mozart’s Requeim, I don’t think any other needs to be written. Even though his was finished by someone else, we can certainly see his divinely inspired touch throughout most of the work, especially in the Sequentiae and even in the several sections which he only had the time to sketch out either the vocal parts or the instrumentals. It is a glorious, profound work of great Catholic faith and mysticism, written by a Protestant.
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Neither Thomas à Celano, nor W.A. Mozart, nor F.X. Sussmayr was a Protestant.

As to favorite settings of the Dies Irae, Mozart’s is indeed great (though far too overblown and more suited for a music hall than the sacred liturgy), but for a pure vocal setting my vote goes to G.F. Anerio. You can’t find the whole thing online, but if you go here and click on the musical notes next to “Movement 3, Sequentia” you should get a little player at the bottom left that will play the first verse or two. His whole Requiem is fantastic.
 
MarkThompson said:
As to favorite settings of the Dies Irae, Mozart’s is indeed great (though far too overblown and more suited for a music hall than the sacred liturgy), but for a pure vocal setting my vote goes to G.F. Anerio. You can’t find the whole thing online, but if you go here and click on the musical notes next to “Movement 3, Sequentia” you should get a little player at the bottom left that will play the first verse or two. His whole Requiem is fantastic.
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I just looked it up on Itunes and yes it is excellent. Unfortunetly it says album only for Dies Irae. Every song but that i can get on itunes.
 
MarkThompson said:
According to that, the thanks belong not to Abp. Bugnini, but to the cardinals and bishops who comprised the Consilium. Fortunately, we have records about those times, like Bugnini’s book, unlike the Consilium that Pius V appointed after Trent to write the Missale Romanum, which stripped out and junked literally hundreds of Sequences from the Mass (even the Stabat Mater(!), which Pope Benedict XIII at last restored in 1727).
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Was he not the champion of all these changes?
 
hudson said:
Really is a shame. Get rid of or water down everything he could was his solution. Why did this one man have so much power in changing the Liturgy? It frustrates me more everyday I read of everything we lost.
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Yep, that’s pretty much what I was thinking when I made my earlier [post=8264830]post[/post].
 
MarkThompson said:
As to favorite settings of the Dies Irae, Mozart’s is indeed great (though far too overblown and more suited for a music hall than the sacred liturgy), but for a pure vocal setting my vote goes to G.F. Anerio.
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My favorite piece of music (as music) is the Mozart Requiem. Unfortunately, I have to agree that, although it is a liturgical text, it is not liturgical music in any practical sense. (But anyway more liturgical than the Mass in C minor.) Of course if we’re going to talk about hauntingly beautiful sequences that aren’t really practical at an average Mass, the Palestrina Stabat Mater comes to mind. By the time you get to “paradisi gloria” you feel like you are practically there already.

Thanks a million for that link! I am definitely going to get that CD. 🙂

I think the problems with the Dies Irae are three-fold:
  1. Many people (myself included sometimes) have the attention span of a concussed duckling.
  2. It is really not as effective in English as it is in Latin. The sounds of the words are more in line with the meaning in Latin, IMO. And mostly nobody is willing to listen to Latin.
  3. Nobody is willing to express any doubt whatsoever that the deceased, or in fact anyone whatsoever, has gone anywhere but straight to Heaven. The merest suggestion of a possible brief sojourn in Purgatory is regarded as a horrible insult. I can only pray that if I get a funeral Mass, that won’t be the attitude there. I mean, if everyone assumes that I’ve gone straight to Heaven, why would they pray for me? And I’m afraid I may need lots of prayers. :blushing:
–Jen
 
revert_jen said:
I think the problems with the Dies Irae are three-fold:
  1. Many people (myself included sometimes) have the attention span of a concussed duckling.
  2. It is really not as effective in English as it is in Latin. The sounds of the words are more in line with the meaning in Latin, IMO. And mostly nobody is willing to listen to Latin.
  3. Nobody is willing to express any doubt whatsoever that the deceased, or in fact anyone whatsoever, has gone anywhere but straight to Heaven. The merest suggestion of a possible brief sojourn in Purgatory is regarded as a horrible insult. I can only pray that if I get a funeral Mass, that won’t be the attitude there. I mean, if everyone assumes that I’ve gone straight to Heaven, why would they pray for me? And I’m afraid I may need lots of prayers. :blushing:
–Jen
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  1. a 6-7 minute song is definitely to long when the average person may miss some of his nfl football game.
  2. why can’t Latin be retained in these songs?
  3. to bad…people need to accept the fact that not everyone goes to heaven. Some people need to wake up and realize the Catholic Church doesn’t teach universalism.
 
revert_jen said:
The chant Dies Irae (like in the video) makes more sense to me in a liturgcal setting. Plus anyway, chant is great. 🙂 Too bad it cuts off in the middle.

–Jen
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Oh, the Fauré Requiem is hilarious. He doesn’t even bother setting the Sequence (too long), and he grotesquely mutilates the texts of the sacred liturgy that he does set. His introit fails to repeat the antiphon. His Kyrie goes like this:
Kyrie, Kyrie, Kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison, eleison, eleison
Christe, Christe, Christe eleison
Christ, Christe eleison
Kyrie eleison, eleison.
Then there is the famous Offertory. Fauré starts with an illicit “O,” and then promptly takes it upon himself to edit the words “libera animas onmium fidelium defunctorum” (“deliver the souls of all the faithful departed”) in favor of a borderline blasphemous call for universal salvation: “libera animas defunctorum” (“deliver the souls of the departed”). Nothing about the “faithful departed” here. He repeats it several times, in case the message failed to penetrate your skull. Then he mysteriously decides to omit the entire verse that goes “sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam: Quam olim Abrahae promisisti, et semini eius” (“but may Thy standard-bearer Saint Michael bring them into holy light: which once Thou promised to Abraham and to his seed”). Next he illicitly repeats the first verse, and finally tacks on three Amens for no reason other than whim. And that’s just the start of it.

As we know, it was only the zany “Spirit of Vatican II” and wacky aura of the '60s that could have inspired Marty Haugen to add the highly illict “Jesus” to “Jesus, Lamb of God, you take away …”, wasn’t it? Thank heavens that this is a great “traditional” Mass whose humble music worthily serves as the handmaiden of the glorious Requiem liturgy. 😉
 
Just in case some think the Dies Irae has been removed from the liturgy, it has not. It has been removed from the requiem Mass. However, it is still the official Latin hymn for the Divine Office for the 34th week of Ordinary Time; it is split into three sections at Vigils, Lauds and Vespers, with a newly-composed doxology added to the end of each section.

Theologically, the 34th wk of Ordinary Time is somewhat about despair, leading into Advent in which hope for redemption is renewed. The Dies Irae is most appropriate for that time, the end of the month of the dead (November).

We have to remember that a Requiem Mass is as much for consoling the living as it is for the praying for the dead. There’s nothing wrong with emphasizing hope in the circumstances.
 
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