The Dies Irae
Happy Halloween!!
In honor of the spookiest day of the year, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the spookiest tune of all—the Dies Irae. You may not recognize the name, but I can almost guarantee that you’ve heard it.
The Dies Irae is a 13th century Latin hymn about death and destruction—fun stuff, I know. The first line of the text translates to “Day of wrath and doom impending”. *shudders* The song is so spooky that composers and artists have been using the melody to represent or foreshadow death and doom since its creation.
This theme is EVERYWHERE. It’s used in classical music by composers from Mozart and Haydn to Shostakovich and Ysaye, but it’s heard the most often in movie soundtracks:
Still don’t recognize it? Maybe this will jog your memory:
“Death is struck, and nature is quaking. All creations are awaking, to its judge an answer making.”