Rex tremendae: lyrics and translation
- Rex tremendae majestatis,King of fearful majesty,Three blows on the word "Rex", silence between them. In the 18th century this dotted rhythm meant a monarch's entrance.
- qui salvandos salvas gratis,who freely saves those to be saved,
- salva me, fons pietatis.save me, fount of mercy.On "salva me" the volume drops and the rhythm smooths out. A plea instead of a shout.
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Manuscript: the first page of the Rex tremendae
Leaf 74 of the working score. From the first bar the first violin and the bass carry a jolting rhythm - a long note, a short one - while the choir has a single word so far: "Rex".
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About
The orchestra begins with the heavy rhythm to which a monarch entered in those days. The choir cries "Rex" - "King" - three times, and silence falls after each cry. Then in the last bars all the ceremony disappears: what remains is a quiet "save me", because the plea is no longer addressed to a king but to the one who can grant a pardon.
The strings begin with a sharp, jolting rhythm - a long note, a short one, a long one again: that is how the music of the time signalled the ceremonial entrance of a monarch. The choir cries "Rex" three times, briefly, with silence after each cry. Then the voices overlap and seem to cut across one another, but the rhythm never lets go. In the last bars everything ceremonial disappears, the volume drops, and "salva me" - "save me" - is sung almost in a whisper.
Worth knowing
The movement's full title is "Rex tremendae majestatis", "King of fearful majesty". The word "tremendae" comes from the same root as "tremor", the trembling of the Dies irae. Literally it means "the King who makes you tremble": the same shaking as two movements ago now stands in a royal title.
The dotted rhythm is a hallmark of the 'French overture': at 17th- and 18th-century courts this kind of music accompanied the king's entrance.
"Qui salvandos salvas gratis" - "you who save the saved for free". The Latin "gratis" means "for nothing, without payment": in Catholic teaching salvation cannot be earned by good deeds or bought - it is given as a gift. That is why what follows asks not for a reward but for mercy.
As in the rest of the sequence, Mozart left the voices, the bass and a few orchestral motifs. Süssmayr filled in the other instruments.
The Rex tremendae is the shortest movement of the day of wrath, 22 bars. Straight after it comes the longest, the Recordare, at 130 bars. After two minutes of royal majesty, five or six minutes of quiet pleading.
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Quiet here so far. Yours would be the first.