Dies Irae

Sooner or later, when you listen to Rachmaninoff, you'll find him quoting this thirteenth century Latin hymn. If you're in the right mind set, the Dies Irae theme can really freak you out. The theme from this Gregorian chant crops up in quite a few places, it shows up in the 9th variation of Rach's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and in his Symphonic Dances, to name a few. It's pretty much talking about the Day of Judgement and eternal punishment if you're not saved. Interestingly enough Mozart (my other favorite composer) also used the text of Dies Irae in the Sequentia segment of his famous Requiem, but wrote different music for it. Here's the text of "Dies Irae": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies_Irae

Here's the music for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlr90NLDp-0

I recommend reading the translation and listening to it at the same time. It's pretty easy to follow.

Although the whole thing is a bit depressing, there is a glimmer of hope in the piece:

Recordare, Jesu pie,
quod sum causa tuæ viæ:
ne me perdas illa die.

This is my favorite line in it. For those of you taking Latin, see if you can read it, if not, you'll find it on the link above, verse 9.

If anyone knows anything more about this, please let me know, I'd love to talk about it. =]