Pie Jesu
Pie Jesu is a motet derived from the final couplet of the Dies irae and often included in musical settings of the Requiem Mass. The settings of the Requiem Mass by Luigi Cherubini, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé, John Rutter, Karl Jenkins and Fredrik Sixten include a Pie Jesu as an independent movement. Of all these, by far the best known is the Pie Jesu from Fauré's Requiem; Camille Saint-Saëns said of it, "just as Mozart's is the only Ave verum corpus, this is the only Pie Jesu".[1]
[edit] Text
The original text, derived from the Dies irae sequence, is as follows:
| Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem. (repeat 2x) |
Kind Lord Jesus, grant them rest. |
| Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem sempiternam. |
Kind Lord Jesus, grant them everlasting rest. |
Pie (the vocative of the word pius) is conventionally translated as "sweet", but normally means "dutiful", "godly", "faithful", or "kind".[2]
Requiem (accusative of requies) is often translated as "peace", although that would be pacem, as in "Dona nobis pacem" ("Give us peace"). A more faithful translation of requiem would be "rest", as in "Requiem aeternam dona eis" ("Grant them eternal rest"). At the end is the word sempiternam ("sempiternal", a graded expression of aeternam, "eternal"), making it to dona eis requiem sempiternam ("grant them sempiternal rest").
The Andrew Lloyd Webber version combines the text of the Pie Jesu with that of the version of the Agnus Dei formerly appointed to be used at Requiem Masses:
| °Pie Jesu, (4x) °Qui tollis peccata mundi °Dona eis requiem. (2x) |
Merciful Jesus, Who takes away the sins of the world, Grant them rest. |
| Agnus Dei, (4x) Qui tollis peccata mundi, Dona eis requiem(2x) Sempiternam. (2x) |
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Grant them rest Everlasting. |
(°The first verse is repeated twice)
[edit] Selected Settings
- Oliver Putland and the Voice of Angels. Webber
- Valborg Aulin
- Aled Jones
- Andrew Johnston
- Angelis
- Anúna
- Becky Gulsvig and Gaelen Gilliland of Legally Blonde: The Musical
- Cecilia Bartoli
- Celtic Woman
- Chloë Agnew, Lynn Hilary and Máiréad Nesbitt from Celtic Woman
- Charlotte Church
- Future of Forestry
- Choirboys, The
- Gregorian Chant Masters
- Hayley Westenra
- Jackie Evancho[3]
- Moe Koffman with Doug Riley and his orchestra
- Sissel Kyrkjebø [1]
- The Priests 2008
- Lea Salonga
- Alessandro Moreschi
- Anna Netrebko
- Katherine Jenkins
- Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc
- Vanilla Ninja
- Julian Smith (saxophonist)
- Tarja Turunen
- Michael Jackson in Little Susie[4]
- Michelle Bass in Ultimate Big Brother on Vanessa Feltz and Victor's fictional wedding.
- Lucie Bílá and Boni Pueri
- Moto Boy on "For Martha Ep." 2007
- Olavskoret and Göran Fristorp
- Sarah Brightman on two of her albums: Classics and the concert DVD Symphony: Live in Vienna
- Monty Python flagellant monks chant this text during several scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail[5]
- Marie Osmond on The Oprah Winfrey Show
- Kathleen Battle on Classic Kathleen Battle: A Portrait 2002, Sony[6]
- The Dog of Flanders directed by Yoshio Kuroda uses a version composed by Taro Iwashiro during one of the last scenes
[edit] References
- ^ Steinberg, Michael. "Gabriel Fauré: Requiem, Op. 48." Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, 131–137.
- ^ "Pius", in Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid, University of Notre Dame
- ^ Jackie Evancho on America's Got Talent youtube retrieved 2010 October 28
- ^ YouTube: Little Susie Unavailable in U.S.
- ^ Monty Python. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" 1975, YouTube: Monks - Monty Python and The Holy Grail interlude between scenes 4 and 5.
- ^ Kathleen Battle discography
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