Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66 / Dies Irae - Dies irae (II) - NDR-Sinfonieorchester, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir

Dies irae, dies illa

Solvet saeclum in favilla:

Teste David cum Sibylla

Quantus tremor est futurus

Quando Judex est venturus

Cuncta stricte discussurus!

Tuba mirum spargens sonum

Per sepulchra regionum

Coget omnes ante thronum

Mors stupebit et natura

Cum resurget creatura

Judicanti responsura

Baritone:

Bugles sang, saddening the evening air;

And bugles answered, sorrowful to hear

Voices of boys were by the river-side

Sleep mothered them;

and left the twilight sad

The shadow of the morrow weighed on men

Voices of old despondency resigned

Bowed by the shadow of the morrow, slept

Soprano:

Liber scriptus proferetur

In quo totum continetur

Unde mundus judicetur

Judex ergo cum sedebit

Quidquid latet, apparebut:

Nil inultum remanebit

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?

Quem patronem rogaturus

Cum vix justus sit securus?

Soprano and Chorus:

Rex tremendae majestatis

Qui salvandos salvas gratis

Salva me, fons pietatis

Tenor and Baritone:

Out there, we’ve walked quite friendly up to Death:

Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland, —

Pardoned his spilling mess-tins in our hand

We’ve sniffed the green thick odour of his breath, —

Our eyes wept, but our courage didn’t writhe

He’s spat at us with bullets and he’s coughed

Shrapnel.

We chorused when he sang aloft;

We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe

Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!

We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum

No soldier’s paid to kick against his powers

We laughed, knowing that better men would come

And greater wars;

when each proud fighter brags

He wars on Death — for Life;

not men — for flags

Recordare Jesu pie

Quod sum causa tuae viae:

Ne me perdas illa die

Quarens me, sedisti lassus:

Redemisti crucem passus:

Tantus labor non sit cassus:

Ingemisco, tamquam reus:

Culpa rubet vultus meus:

Supplicanti parce Deus

Qui Mariam absolvisti

Et latronem exaudisti

Mihi quoque spem dedisti

Inter oves locum praesta

Et ab haedis me sequestra

Statuens in parte dextra

Confutatis maledictis

Flammis acribus addictis

Voca me cum benedictis

Oro supplex et acclinis

Cor contritum quasi cinis

Gere curam mei finis

Baritone:

Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm

Great gun towering toward Heaven, about to curse;

Reach at that arrogance which needs thy harm

And beat it down before its sins grow worse;

But when thy spell be cast complete and whole

May God curse thee, and cut thee from our soul!

Dies irae, dies illa

Solvet saeclum in favilla:

Teste David cum Sibylla

Quantus tremor est futurus

Quando Judex est venturus

Cuncta stricte discussurus!

Soprano and Chorus:

Lacrimosa dies illa

Qua resurget ex favilla

Judicandus homo reus:

Huic ergo parce Deus

Tenor:

Move him into the sun —

Gently its touch awoke him once

At home, whispering of fields unsown

Always it woke him, even in France

Until this morning and this snow

If anything might rouse him now

The kind old sun will know

Soprano and Chorus:

Lacrimosa dies illa…

Tenor:

Think how it wakes the seeds —

Woke, once, the clays of a cold star

Are limbs, so dear-acheived, are sides

Full-nerved — still warm — too hard to stir?

Was it for this the clay grew tall?

Soprano and Chorus:

…Qua resurget ex favilla…

Tenor:

Was it for this the clay grew tall?

Soprano and Chorus:

…Judicandus homo reus

Tenor:

— O what made fatuous sunbeams toil

To break earth’s sleep at all?

Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem

Amen