Composition database

This is the Composition Database of BMC, which includes information about works by composers that are either Hungarian or Hungarian by origin or live in Hungary.

Search
New search
Title of the work

Dies Irae

Composer
Bella Máté
Original / Hungarian title
Dies Irae
Foreign language / English title
Dies Irae
Subtitle
For mixed choir
Year of composition
2024
Type
Mixed choir
Instrumentation
mixed choir (S-A-T-B)
Duration
4 min
Movements, parts
One movement
Text
liturgical
Language
Latin
Commissioned by
Dunakanyar Contemporary Music Forum
Premiere information
23 June 2024, St. John of Nepomuk Church, Dunabogdány, Hungay; Cantemus Choir Nyíregyháza, Donáth Tóth (cond.)
Publisher / Source
Universal Music Publishing Editio Musica Budapest Ⓒ 2024, Z. 15171
Available here!
Recordings
Video recording of the premiere, 2024 - Cantemus Choir Nyíregyháza, Donáth Tóth (cond.) (Available on youtube.com)
Remarks, other info
"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)