Dies Irae

Dies irae, dies illa solvet saeclum in favilla: teste David cum Sibylla.	The day of wrath, that day Will dissolve the world in ashes As foretold by David and the sibyl!
Quantus tremor est futurus, quando judex est venturus, cuncta stricte discussurus!	How much tremor there will be, when the judge will come, investigating everything strictly!
Tuba mirum spargens sonum per sepulcra regionum, coget omnes ante thronum.	The trumpet, scattering a wondrous sound through the sepulchres of the regions, will summon all before the throne.
Mors stupebit et natura, cum resurget creatura, judicanti responsura.	Death and nature will marvel, when creation arises, to respond to the Judge.
Liber scriptus proferetur, in quo totum continetur, unde mundus judicetur.	The written book will be brought forth, in which all is contained, from which the world shall be judged.
Judex ergo cum sedebit, quidquid latet apparebit: nil inultum remanebit.	When therefore the judge will sit, whatever hides will appear: nothing will remain unpunished.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus, cum vix justus sit securus?	What am I, miserable, then to say? Which patron to ask, when [even] the just may [only] hardly be sure?
Rex tremendae majestatis, qui salvandos salvas gratis, salva me fons pietatis.	King of tremendous majesty, who freely savest those that have to be saved, save me, source of mercy.
Recordare, Jesu pie, quod sum causa tuae viae: ne me perdas illa die.	Remember, merciful Jesus, that I am the cause of thy way: lest thou lose me in that day.
Quaerens me, sedisti lassus: redemisti Crucem passus: tantus labor non sit cassus.	Seeking me, thou sat tired: thou redeemed [me] having suffered the Cross: let not so much hardship be lost.
Juste judex ultionis, donum fac remissionis ante diem rationis.	Just judge of revenge, give the gift of remission before the day of reckoning.
Ingemisco, tamquam reus: culpa rubet vultus meus: supplicanti parce, Deus.	I sigh, like the guilty one: my face reddens in guilt: Spare the supplicating one, God.
Qui Mariam absolvisti, et latronem exaudisti, mihi quoque spem dedisti.	Thou who absolved Mary, and heardest the robber, gavest hope to me, too.
Preces meae non sunt dignae: sed tu bonus fac benigne, ne perenni cremer igne.	My prayers are not worthy: however, thou, Good [Lord], do good, lest I am burned up by eternal fire.
Inter oves locum praesta, et ab haedis me sequestra, statuens in parte dextra.	Grant me a place among the sheep, and take me out from among the goats, setting me on the right side.
Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis: voca me cum benedictis.	Once the cursed have been rebuked, sentenced to rancorous flames: Call thou me with the blessed.
Oro supplex et acclinis, cor contritum quasi cinis: gere curam mei finis.	I meekly and humbly pray, [my] heart is as crushed as the ashes: perform the healing of mine end.
Lacrimosa dies illa, qua resurget ex favilla judicandus homo reus.	Tearful will be that day, on which from the ashes arises the guilty man who is to be judged.
Huic ergo parce, Deus: pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem. Amen.	Spare him therefore, God. Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest. Amen.

Meditation for Lent

In translation (courtesy of Catholic.org):

Hearken, O Lord,
and have mercy,
for we have sinned against Thee.
Crying, we raise our eyes to Thee, Sovereign King,
Redeemer of all.
Listen, Christ, to the pleas of the supplicant sinners.

Hearken, O Lord,
and have mercy,
for we have sinned against Thee.
Thou art at the Right Hand of God the Father,
the Keystone,
the Way of salvation and Gate of Heaven,
cleanse the stains of our sins.

Hearken, O Lord,
and have mercy,
for we have sinned against Thee.
O God, we beseech Thy majesty to hear our groans;
to forgive our sins.

Hearken, O Lord,
and have mercy,
for we have sinned against Thee.
We confess to Thee our consented sins;
we declare our hidden sins with contrite heart;
in Thy mercy, O Redeemer, forgive them.

Hearken, O Lord,
and have mercy,
for we have sinned against Thee.
Thou wert captured, being innocent;
brought about without resistance,
condemned by impious men with false witnesses.
O Christ keep safe those whom Thou hast redeemed.

Hearken, O Lord,
and have mercy,
for we have sinned against Thee.

Vivaldi's "Winter" from "The Four Seasons"

Anyone who knows how my tentative affection for winter and snow has received a setback by recent events will appreciate my tongue in cheek presentation of the title piece below. Still, the music is beautiful and the accompanying performance is very interesting... impressive, really.

Vivaldi composed this set of four string concertos in 1723. You can also check out "Spring," "Summer," and "Autumn," with accompanying sand art in like manner. Sand art, coincidentally, seems to be big in Eastern Europe. There are a bunch of YouTube posts. A very good one that I have seen, that is really very moving, is embedded below. It tells a beautiful story by means of images that each surpass even a thousand words. The rhythm and grace with which Kseniya Simonova, a Ukrainian, performs her sand art adds an entire dimension to her work.




The same piece can be found in smaller segments with a somewhat better sound quality, but I wanted to provide the whole performance as a single piece to give a better feel. The same performer also has a sand art performance that tells the story of the Ukraine before, during, and after the calamities of World War II and Stalin. I do not know enough about the culture and sufferings of that people during the middle of the twentieth century to understand exactly what many of the images mean to them as they watch it, but watching it myself, I was moved, and further moved by how moved the audience was by Simonova's work.

Haiti - United in Prayer

Thanks, Luce.

The Highbury Quartet plays Beethoven's String Quartet No. 7 in F Major (for Rasumovsky), Op. 59, No. 1 - 3rd Mvmnt

I apologize for the quality of the recording, which is slightly off, but you get the point, and you get what you get for free. The recording that I have, that I paid for, is amazing. I've listened to this piece for hours, and it's never gotten old. I don't even really know almost anything about classical music - yet. But with the most beautiful things, you don't need to know much to start getting it.

Beauty is like that.

My roommate and I got to brainstorming today about retro, and we had some interesting thoughts. I'll share more about that tomorrow or the next day.

Once in Royal David's City

This carol is one of my favorites. I think it dates to the mid-Victorian period, so it's relatively modern. It has been used to start the Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge, every year for almost a century now. It's not hard to hear why.

Beautiful, no?

Timelapse movie: The Alps -- part II (night) from Michael Rissi on Vimeo.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, 3rd Movement - set over the Alps.

Something Beautiful to Start off Advent

This is the "Missa Orbis Factor," a Latin setting for the Mass whose title means 'Maker of the World' Mass. I found it at the Catholic Key blog. Every mention of it I find on the web says that it is Gregorian chant. All of these sources are amateurish, though - bloggers like me. It strikes me as simpler than Gregorian, though. It sounds more like Sarum to me. This theory strikes me as likely because it seems to be an old English chant, or at least is making its appearance through Anglican parishes. Except, well, that could just be because they like beautiful things (may they bring them with them when they come)! But then, I am amateurish - just a blogger. The biggest piece of counter-evidence to my theory is that the chanting in the YouTube video I have enclosed is actually performed by a Milanese Gregorian schola. One would think they would know... except maybe they like to branch out. Plus, it's not like Gregorian and Sarum are worlds apart... not to my amateurish ears, anyway. Anyone out there know more?

Just Because It's Beautiful

A Little Culture, pt. 1

Lately, I have been trying to build my scant knowledge of classical music. A lot of it is very beautiful and moving. It is like a language of its own.

Check it out. The Ancient Greeks, I am thinking especially of the Pythagorean philosophers, studied music and harmonics extensively, and influenced Plato heavily. These folks believed that music, which they arranged in harmonic ratios that mirrored those they found in the ratios of distances of planets in the solar system, was the language of the soul, binding us directly to the cosmos by a common tongue, if you will.

The Jews believe(d) that in the final fulfillment of God's promises, all the holy ones will join the hosts of angels in singing God's praises for eternity. We Christians have built on this idea and even gone so far as to say that this purpose is the highest purpose of a person: to sing God's praises with his whole being. Victor Hugo gives a glimpse of the Christian rationale for this expectation. Though the French Romantic poet's sympathy with workers' rights seemed to him incompatible with practicing the Catholic Faith of his youth, he came from a deeply Catholic background. He wrote, "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent."

Confucius wrote, "The inner nature of man is the province of music." He explains this in some further detail: "Therefore, the superior man tries to create harmony in the human heart, by a rediscovery of human nature, and tries to promote music as a means to the perfection of human culture. When such music prevails, and the people’s minds are led towards the right ideals and aspirations, we may see the appearance of a great nation. Character is the backbone of our human nature, and music is the flowering of character." He even asserted that by means of listening to the music being played in a city, the agents of a ruler could assess the moral condition of the people therein. And finally, "When music and courtesy are better understood and appreciated, then there will be no war," (all from the Analects).

What have all these wise people, from so many times and places, known that we modern Westerners have forgotten?

It is interesting. The classical music of China is very different from that of the West. I have no idea how different, only very. But I'll bet that even with different instruments, different preferences for tempo, and different arrangements of chords, etc., it is still based on tonality and harmonization - though different tones and harmonies may prevail there than here. I'll bet.


Yet in the West we have abandoned tonal harmony in our music. How symptomatic. One of my hopes is to drink in a deep appreciation of the classical Western culture that is so informed by the Incarnation of God as a man, so informed with the aspiration that the material and the human can bear witness to the spiritual and the divine, and can even transmit them to us, so in deeply hopeful that the material world means something. As I drink more of this appreciation, I hope deeply to share it with others. Thus the ideal of the West was preserved by Christianity during the Dark Ages, and rebuilt (resurrected?) during the Medieval. Thus, as modernity expends itself will the West be preserved amid the wash of postmodernism and God knows whatever will follow, and thus will it again be resurrected by the Church, if Jesus does not return first. Needless to say, I think it a very good thing that some Catholic parishes, cathedrals, and universities are beginning again to promote culture through music and the visual arts in particular.

For putting up with this little lecture, I'll give you a treat. Click here for free MP3 downloads of classical music. Go on, you know you want to. On me. Make your day a little more beautiful.