This is by way of a follow-on to Fr. Eric Andersen's paper, delivered to the CMAA conference in Minneapolis in 2013, and available in the NLM archives, entitled "The Celebration of Sorrow in the Roman Rite." At his request, I have set to the traditional melody the English text of the sequence as found in "Our Parish Prays and Sings Hymnbook", Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 1966, in its (dubiously titled) section, "Mass for Resurrection and Glory". [With apologies, I cannot seem to load the scanned PDF here.]

The difficulties in reconciling the natural English word rhythms with the traditional Gregorian melody are especially obvious with this adaptation, and Collegeville responded with a typically heavy editorial hand to rectify the problems. This is a shame. I may be alone in thinking the problem is artificial, or perhaps stemming from a grotesque understanding of chant rhythm vs. textual rhetoric. The English clearly needs a very high and subtle degree of sensitivity when rendered to the authentic melody, especially in the third phrase (vv. 6, 7, 12, 13 and 17). Nevertheless, I think it far from impossible, if one adopts a free approach to the rhythm (which Gajard himself would advocate, despite his more fundamentalist disciples who can't seem to get beyond those 2s and 3s). If nothing else, it helps us better appreciate the treatment of accented vs. unaccented syllables in the Latin texts, and render them more sensitively.

Fr. Andersen's argument in favor of the traditional sequence in the context of the modern funeral liturgy is certainly not above debate, though I don't think this is the place for that debate. Nevertheless, this fairly suave translation of the great medieval Latin text goes a long way toward deepening my understanding of this chant, which I have sung dozens of times. I predict the Dies iræ issue, like black vestments, etc., will be revisited in a future iteration of the Roman Missal. Its (overt) restoration could provide yet another means to recapture the traditional Catholic approach to mourning, and yet another brick in rebuilding Catholic liturgy.