Domine Jesu: lyrics and translation
- Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,
- libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorumfree the souls of all the faithful departed
- de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu.from the punishments of hell and from the deep pit.The basses drop on "de profundo lacu", from the deep pit.
- Libera eas de ore leonis,Free them from the mouth of the lion,A rush on "de ore leonis", from the lion's mouth.
- ne absorbeat eas tartarus,let Tartarus not swallow them,
- ne cadant in obscurum.let them not fall into darkness.
- Sed signifer sanctus MichaelBut let the standard-bearer, holy Michael,The solo quartet, a clearing: Saint Michael leads the souls into the light. The voices rise on "lucem".
- repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam,lead them into the holy light,
- quam olim Abrahae promisistiwhich you once promised to AbrahamA fugue on the words "which you once promised to Abraham". The same music will sound once more, without a single change, at the end of the next movement: in the manuscript Mozart wrote there "repeat from the beginning".
- et semini ejus.and to his seed.
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Manuscript: the first page of the Domine Jesu
Leaf 89 of the working score. Mozart wrote the Offertorium the same way as the movements before it: voices and bass first, orchestra later. Here the string staves are still empty.
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About
The bass voices fall on the words about the pit and rise on the words about light. At the end comes a great fugue on the promise God once made to Abraham: to lead his descendants into the light. It is held up to God as an old debt.
It begins quietly and solemnly, but on the words about the punishments of hell and the deep pit the bass voices fall away downwards, and then the music tears forward - at the point where a lion lies in wait for the soul. The quartet of soloists at "Sed signifer sanctus Michael" brings light: the archangel Michael leads the souls out of the darkness. The movement ends with a fast fugue on "Quam olim Abrahae promisisti" - "which you once promised to Abraham".
Worth knowing
The lion's mouth is a biblical image of destruction. Tartarus is Greek mythology inside a Latin service. Michael the standard-bearer is the guide of souls.
The 'Quam olim Abrahae' fugue returns note for note at the end of the Hostias. Mozart marked it that way in the manuscript: 'Quam olim da Capo'.
In the service the Offertory is the moment when bread and wine are brought to the altar. Hence the words: not about judgement but about what we offer for the dead.
For the first time since the Introitus, choir and solo quartet sing in the same movement: the soloists enter at "Sed signifer sanctus Michael".
In January 1772 the sixteen-year-old Mozart played the viola at the first performance of the Requiem by Michael Haydn, Joseph Haydn's younger brother, in Salzburg. Nineteen years later he took from it the melody for the 'Quam olim Abrahae' fugue - the two are almost the same.
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Quiet here so far. Yours would be the first.