14th Movement: Domine, Jesu
The fourteenth movement of the Requiem, Ingemesco, is accompanied by a video tour of the Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore in Verona, Italy.
Domine, Jesu, like each of the composition's movements, was inspired by the beauty and grandeur of some of the world's great cathedrals and churches.
The Text In the Latin rite, Domine, Jesu Christe (Lord Jesus Christ) is by tradition sung during the offertorium; that is, when the bread and wine for the Eucharist is brought forward from the congregation and placed on the altar. The final phrase of the text ("as once Thou promised to Abraham and to his descendants") is a reference to Genesis 17:9-10. It also appears in the 12th movement of the Requiem, Hostias..
The Composition Domine, Jesu Christe begins with a slow, somber melody in the strings. The text begins at 1:00 with the entrance of the boys’ choir. They introduce a new theme reflecting the prayerful supplication of the text (“Lord Jesus Christ, king of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of Hell.”) Gradually, as the text moves from darkness into light, phrase by phrase the orchestration expands, and the fear of damnation is replaced in the text and music by the confident hope that, by God’s grace, the Archangel Michael will, indeed, “lead them into the holy light, as once you promised to Abraham and to his seed forever.”
Domine, Jesu is scored for boys’ choir, tenors and bases, strings (24 violins, 8 violas, 8 cellos, 6 double basses) and brass (6 French horns and 4 trumpets).
Latin Text
Domine, Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,
libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum
de poenis inferni
et de profundo lacu.
Libera eas de ore leonis
ne absorbeat eas tartarus,
ne cadant in obscurum;
Sed signifer sanctus Michael
repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam,
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
et semini eius.
English Translation
Lord Jesus Christ, king of glory,
deliver the souls of all the faithful departed
from the pains of Hell
and the bottomless pit.
Deliver them from the jaws of the lion,
lest hell engulf them,
lest they be plunged into darkness;
but let the holy standard-bearer Michael
lead them into the holy light,
as once Thou promised to Abraham
and to his seed forever.
