Quotations from the "Dies Irae" plainchant seem to pop up all over the place
in classical music.  I've been noticing it more and more recently, and I
wonder what other pieces of music it appears in that some of you may have
noticed.  For those of you unfamiliar with this melody, try playing the
sequence F E F D E C D D (without jumping any more than a 3rd) on any
handy instrument.

22 responses total.

I'll start things off with the pieces that I've heard it in:
Rachmaninoff seems to use this a lot.  It appears in the Paganini Rhapsody
(variation VII) and as the continuo-type bass in Etude-Tableau op. 39 no. 2.
The famous melody to his Vocalise op. 34 no. 14 is supposedly a variation on
the Dies Irae, though I have to stretch a bit more to hear that.  Besides
Rachmaninoff, it appears in the Witches' Sabbath movement of Berlioz's
Symphony Fantastique, and in the last of Respighi's Three Preludes on
Gregorian Melodies (Lento).  There is also a piece of movie music that uses
this melody (with a choir part, I believe) that's often used in previews. 
I don't know what movie it's originally from, though.

John Williams used it in his music for
Close Encounters.  My favorite Dies Irae
appearance in a movie is from a crime 
drama in which E.G. Marshall played a 
prosecutor or police detective.  
(Might've been "Compulsion.")  At one
point, Marshall interrogates a suspect
and catches him in a lie.  As he walks
off, Marshall is humming the Dies Irae 
theme to himself, "Pumm pumm pumm pumm,
pumm pumm pumm pumm."  Very droll.

Faure Requiem has the words.

(Don't all Requiems have the words?)

Compositions based on the Latin requiem mass do.
Jeffrey is talking about the original tune, not
the words.

When I was a lot younger I attended a *real* 
requiem mass for my grandmother, at which a soprano
sang the Dies Irae at a rather lively tempo.  The
speed of speech, I would say.  I fee privileged to
have heard the melody in its natural setting, as
opposed to an "artist's rendering."

For some basic Dies Irae information, try:

http://www.csn.net/advent/cathen/04787a.htm

For a very opinionated essay by a traditionalist,
but with lots of good information, try:

http://graham.main.nc.us/~bhammel/diesirae.html

I did not know there was a requiem mass. How many different masses are there?

When I used to be Catholic, there was the
daily mass, the high mass or "solemn high
mass," the nuptial mass, the requiem mass,
and there were probably others I never knew
about.

How about "critical" mass, such as on feast days?  ;-)

hi iam from a totally different background but with a good ear for music
p

Please tell us about your background, and note that there is an item for
discussing nonwestern classical music.  I am very interested in hearing more
from you.  Do you play music?  Sing?

Back to Dies Irae... supposedly in the Granados set of piano pieces
"Goyescas", there is an elaborated quotation from the Dies Irae in the last
piece of the set (Epilogo, o Serenata del espectro).  As of yet I have not
been able to locate it... I tend to miss the subtler ones.  Speaking of which,
I understand that the 18th variation of Rachmaninoff's Paganini Rhapsody is
a variation on the Dies Irae as well, but I seem to be totally missing it.
Any pointers?

It isn't.  It's an inversion of the main theme,
which is supposedly by Paganini.  The Dies Irae
does put in an appearance in the Paganini
Rhapsody, however.

Right, it appears first in the 7th variation, and in other places throughout
the piece.  I'll play around with that Paganini theme for awhile to see if
I can make the connection.

On a very different note, I once borrowed a CD from the Ann Arbor library with
a piece on it called (I think) Dead Elvis, featuring the Dies Irae played on
a tuba.  The liner notes said that in performance, the tuba player was dressed
as an Elvis impersonator.  I forget the composer's name, unfortunately...

Why unfortunately?  :)

Damn... I can't remember the composer's name.  I played _Dead Elvis_ in 
October with the New Music Ensemble here at Vandy.  It is a really fun 
peice.  We did it with a basoon soloist (and that's what i thought it 
was written for... I could have been wrong though), and he did wear an 
Elvis costume.  It was a trip.  

I'll think of it, eventually.
 

It might have been bassoon in the recording I heard.  Now that you mention
it, I'm not entirely sure anymore.

A few more Dies Irae quotes: Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead, Saint-Saens
Third Symphony (first section most notably, but mayble later on as well). 
I attended a Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert Friday night where they played
John Corigliano's Piano Concerto.  In the slow movement the first 4 notes of
the Dies Irae kept appearing, enough times for it to probably have been more
than coincidence.

The musical work "Dead Elvis" is by Michael Daugherty.  Y'know, I didn't 
even have to look it up to guess that (though I did, just to be sure).  
Only Daugherty would write a piece with a title like that.  He also 
wrote "Le Tombeau de Liberace", a piano concerto whose soloist wears a 
Liberace costume, so you just know he would do this too.

Speaking of Le Tombeau de Liberace, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is playing
it on the weekend of April 7, along with Strauss's Don Juan and Till
Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1, and Weill's
_Threepenny Opera_ Suite.  I'm planning on going to this one, especially to
hear the Prokofiev.

Another Dies Irae: Khachaturian's Symphony No. 2, 3rd movement

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