• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Gregorian Chant in Star Wars

Veronica Brandt · May 17, 2014

St Michael the Archangel Chapel, Rookwood St Michael the Archangel Chapel, Rookwood Necropolis ODAY I WAS RUNNING LATE for a votive requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form for an extraordinary man. I entered to a familiar tune, which happens to be the same as the Canticles from the Easter Vigil Mass from just a few weeks ago. The small choir finished the tract and began the sequence – Dies Irae.

I hope most readers have heard of this piece of music. It is a 13th century hymn in 18, 19 or 20 stanzas, depending how you count them. Sometimes it is sung alternating each verse between two choirs. Every second verse sounds a little like an echo as the tune is repeated.

There are three tunes and the whole pattern is sung three times like this: A A B B C C A A B B C C A A B B C then the last three sections of two lines each bringing the whole to a close.

It is dramatic, sonorous, awesome, and it’s not just the liturgical enthusiasts who think so. Tom Allen traces the influence of the opening tune on music from the Classical period right through to modern movie scores at CBC Music

He gets a few things wrong. The dove dictating to Pope St Gregory the Great is definitely figurative and Gregorian Chant is not composed by Pope Gregory but standardized from music that was already in existence, and, of course, Star Wars is not set in the future but “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”. Nevertheless it is a lot of fun to watch.

Now you too will be hearing Dies Irae in just about everything!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Don’t You Agree About These?
    If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don't you agree?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Choral Vowels? Yes? No?
    Here's a live recording of one of the choral “warm-up” exercises my choir enjoys. It was taken during our rehearsal on 27 January 2023. It’s good to make sure each chord is perfectly in tune and balanced before moving to the next one. That only happens when each singer has the correct vowel. If you like, you can freely download that vocal exercise.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    26 January 2023 • FEEDBACK
    “Jeff, I wanted to personally thank you for your spiritual witness at the Symposium & often blogs that you write too. Praying that prayer in the mornings My God, my Father and my all (by Cardinal Merry Del Val), mentioning saints’ stories of Brébeuf, Jogues, John Vianney, monks who fought in WWII, their hard work in spite of terrible conditions, their relentless zeal for the faith, their genuine love for the laypeople they served, etc. Overall though—more than anything concrete I can point to that you did or said—it was your demeanor at the Symposium. I could tell you really absolutely love and believe the Catholic Faith. You don’t get that everywhere, even in Church circles. And your humility is what then makes that shine even brighter. It is super inspiring! God is working through you probably way more than you know.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing—direct murder by the mother herself. And we read in the Scripture, for God says very clearly: “Even if a mother could forget her child, I will not forget you: I have carved you in the palm of my hand.”

— Mother Theresa (11 Dec 1979)

Recent Posts

  • Don’t You Agree About These?
  • Choral Vowels? Yes? No?
  • Crucial Tip For Choir Directors
  • Father Herbert Thurston • “I Fear the Man With One Book”
  • 26 January 2023 • FEEDBACK

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.