This morning I assist at a Requiem Mass at which the Dies Irae will be sung after the Gospel–not a far-flung setting by a great composer but rather the original one by an anonymous monk who wrote this chant, which features the most moving, terrifying, and reflective text and melody I’ve heard. If music can sound like the final judgement, this is it. Here is the text. Here is an MP3. This remarkable Sequence has been lost in the sacred-music shuffle of the last 40 years, but it is not entirely gone. It is still permitted as an option in … Continue reading Dies Irae, Dies Illa