Bella Máté

Dies irae

I composed my composition for mixed choir Dies Irae for the Cantemus Choir Nyíregyháza at the request of the Dunakanyar Contemporary Music Forum, in the spring of 2024. I set six sections of the nineteen three-line rhyming stanzas of the medieval poem to music. The Gregorian sequence Dies irae is one of the most arranged and quoted melodies in European music history, which is why the original melody is not used in my choral work. My composition avoids melismatic solutions, the text is set to music almost entirely syllabically. Since the content of the poem itself is melodious, the resulting rustic tone is aided by the lean rhythmic and metric panels, the extreme dynamics, and the explosive drumming of the arm. The loud and masculine tone of the composition makes it possible to experience the touching depth and power of the text.

(Máté Bella)