Lacrimosa
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Lyrics


Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴  Line by Line Meaning ↴

Lacrymosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce Deus,
pie Jesu Domine,
dona eis requiem! Amen!




Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Lacrimosa, which is part of his Requiem Mass in D minor, is a mournful and sorrowful plea for mercy and forgiveness from God during the final judgement day. The opening lines "Lacrymosa dies illa, qua resurget ex favilla" translates to "That day of tears and mourning when from the ashes shall arise." The following line, "judicandus homo reus" emphasizes the guilt of the human being who will stand before God and be judged for their actions.


The second stanza of the song is a direct appeal to God as the singer begs, "Huic ergo parce Deus, pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem," which translates to, "Therefore, Lord Jesus, grant them rest. Amen." The repetition of "pie Jesu Domine" emphasizes the singer's desperation and longing for grace and mercy from God.


Overall, the song Lacrimosa conveys a sense of fear and uncertainty about the end of life and the final judgement of God. The lyrics reflect the Catholic belief in a judgement day where every human being will be judged based on their actions on earth, and the mercy and forgiveness sought from God in this song reflects a hope for redemption and eternal rest in the afterlife.


Line by Line Meaning

Lacrymosa dies illa,
That day of tears and mourning,


qua resurget ex favilla
from the dust of earth returning


judicandus homo reus.
Man, the guilty, trembling creature,


Huic ergo parce Deus,
Save him, O Lord, in mercy.


pie Jesu Domine,
Give him eternal rest, O God!


dona eis requiem! Amen!
Amen!




Contributed by Micah A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@gunterangel

Exactly ! Actually Mozart did only compose the first eight bars himself, then he pretty quickly died on december, the 05 th.,1791.

That is until the crescendo to the word "reus", sung in forte, ( until 0:44 ) !

Franz Xaver Süßmayr,
Mozart's pupil and assistent,
and also Godfather of his youngest son, Franz Xaver, who had just been born in the same year 1791, would complete the work at the behest of Mozart's widow, Constanze.

( Yes, another composer, who helped in completing the work, was Joseph Eybler, who btw. had been highly estimated by Mozart especially as a composer of sacral music, but he only contributed to the orchestrations of the previous movements after the Kyrie-fugue, and his contributions were rather small, as he seemed less enthusiastic about this job at Constanze's plea, hence Constanze went to Süßmayr soon.)

Süßmayr would die equally as young as his master, just 37 years old, in 1803.

So from 0:44 onwards it is actually Süßmayr's genius at work !

To give the smoothest cohesion Süßmayr stayed permanently in Mozart's chosen metrum, that swaying 12/8, and also kept Mozart's sighing rhythmic pattern of accompaniment in the first violins throughout the entire piece until the end, which he closed with a simple and humble "A-men!" in form of a simple V-I chord cadence, that he avoided to compose out expandedly for instance in form of a fugue.

But some forty years ago there were indeed some scetches of Mozart discovered, which indicate, that he probably intended to close the Lacrimosa with a real fugue on the word "Amen".

This alternative ending with an "Amen"-fugue was tried in the eighties of the 20th. century by contemporary composer and musicologist, Richard Maunder, who used Mozart's scetches as basis for his fugue.

There is a recording of Christopher Hogwood and The Acadamy of Ancient Music from 1988.

Celebrating the 200th.anniversary
of Mozart's death in 1991 also Duncan Druce and Robert.D.Levin came up with their own reconstructions of the Mozart Requiem and with their own "Amen"-fugues for the Lacrimosa.

Hogwood also recorded the Druce version in 1991.

You can find this alternative versions also here on YT (, if not deleted due to copyright reasons .)

Let's give Süßmayr the credit he deserves !

And he was even ten years younger than his master, Mozart, just aged 25, when he had completed Mozart's Requiem, and by doing so arguably preserved Mozart's last major work for the future.

And isn't it really ominous, that Mozart had died, just when he was writing music for those lyrics of the Latin funeral mass, that deal with the individual judgement by God, which according to the Christian faith each human being has to face immediately after his last breath ?!

" Full of tears that day,
when from the ashes shall rise
a guilty man to be judged... .."

....and gone he was ! ✝️



@gunterangel

@@bboynew
Yeah, it well could be !

What makes this matter even more difficult is that Mozart and Süßmayr had staggering similar handwritings, and Süßmayr, in the manuscript given to Count Walsegg, who had commissioned the work, even intentionally tried to make his own handwriting impossible to differ from Mozart's, probably in order to fool the Count by making him believe he had recieved an one-hundred-percent-Mozart-work.

Also that Süßmayr had picked up Mozart's own notes from the beginning again at the first 'Dona eis requiem', like some sort of "reprise", was very resourceful and empathetic from him.
Hence the 'Lacrimosa' ist really the most difficult part to separate their individual styles.

Whereas the 'Sanctus' and 'Agnus Dei' are easily recognizable NOT Mozart and 100% Süßmayr, especially the counterpoint in the 'Hosanna'-part sounds too unwieldy to be from Mozart imho.

The 'Benedictus' with the soloists-quartet, although assumably 100% Süßmayr, sounds again remarkably "Mozartian" ,
and there are even speculations today, that maybe Süßmayr could have relied on little pieces of paper ( "kleine Zettelchen")
with rough and short scetches from Mozart's hand, which Mozart's widow, Constanze, had occassionally mentioned and which presumably had gone lost.



@sergentgoose8964

Forever set, a precious moon is lost.

The others mourn him, with ceremony grand.

Rising up to heaven, the mighty moon of frost

With a melody from the mourning band.

..

Harvest Barren, wine spilled, lover slumber

beside the bloody scarlet eyes.

Though cut in half, shall be your number

'tis not lost, wherein your advantage lies.

..

Amuse yourself with the entr'acte.

Seek out new friends once in a bind.

Perhaps to the east one can be tracked

the one most needed, you're sure to find.



@iWorkYuhurd

“The calendar loses a precious component.
The remaining months gather to mourn.
The mourners play a melody,
While the eleventh moon quietly rises.

The chrysanthemum withers and falls,
To lie on the ground beside bloody Scarlet Eyes.
But you will remain supreme.
Even after losing half your limbs.

Enjoy the interlude.
Search out new allies.
East is the direction to go.
You will find one who awaits you."



@gunterangel

Actually Mozart did only compose the first eight bars himself, then he pretty quickly died on december, the 05 th.,1791.

That is until the crescendo to the word "reus", sung in forte, ( until 0:44 ) !

Franz Xaver Süßmayr,
Mozart's pupil and assistent,
and also Godfather of his youngest son, Franz Xaver, who was just born in the same year 1791, would complete the work at the behest of Mozart's widow, Constanze.

( Another composer, who helped in completing the work, was Joseph Eybler, but he only contributed to the orchestrations of the previous movements after the Kyrie-Fugue.)

Süßmayr would die equally as young as his master, just 37 years old, in 1803.

So from 0:44 onwards it is actually Süßmayr's genius at work !

To give the smoothest cohesion Süßmayr stayed permanently in Mozart's chosen metrum, 12/8, and also kept Mozart's rhythmic pattern of accompaniment in the first violins throughout the entire piece until the end, which he closed with a simple and humble "A-men!", that he avoided to compose out expandedly for instance in form of a fugue.

But some forty years ago there were indeed some scetches of Mozart dicovered, that indicates, that he probably intended to close the Lacrimosa with a real fugue on the word "Amen".

This alternative ending with an "Amen"-fugue was tried in the eighties of the 20th. century by contemporary composer and musicologist, Richard Maunder, who used Mozart's scetches as basis for his fugue.

There is a recording of Christopher Hogwood and The Acadamy of Ancient Music from 1988.

Celebrating the 200th.anniversary a
of Mozart's death in 1991 also Duncan Druce and Robert.D.Levin came up with their own reconstructions of the Mozart Requiem and with their own "Amen"-fugues for the Lacrimosa.

Hogwood also recorded the Druce version in 1991.

You can find this alternative versions also here on YT (, if not deleted due to copyright reasons .)

Let's give Süßmayr the credit he deserves !

And he was even ten years younger than his master, Mozart, just aged 25, when he had completed Mozart's Requiem, and by doing so arguably preserved Mozart's last work for the future.

And isn't it really ominous, that Mozart had died, just when he was writing about the individual judgement by God, that each human, who had died, has to face immediately after his last breath ?!

" Full of tears that day,
when from the ashes shall rise
a guilty man to be judged... .."

....and gone he was ! ✝️



@gunterangel

Actually Mozart did only compose the first eight bars himself, then he pretty quickly died on december, the 05 th.,1791.

That is until the crescendo to the word "reus", sung in forte, ( until 0:44 ) !

Franz Xaver Süßmayr,
Mozart's pupil and assistent,
and also Godfather of his youngest son, Franz Xaver, who was just born in the same year 1791, would complete the work at the behest of Mozart's widow, Constanze.

Süßmayr would die equally as young as his master, just 37 years old, in 1803.

So from 0:44 onwards it is actually Süßmayr's genius at work !

To give the smoothest cohesion Süßmayr stayed permanently in Mozart's chosen metrum, 12/8, and also kept Mozart's rhythmic pattern of accompaniment in the first violins throughout the entire piece until the end, which he closed with a simple and humble "A-men!", that he avoided to compose out expandedly for instance in form of a fugue.

But some forty years ago there were indeed some scetches of Mozart dicovered, that indicates, that he probably intended to close the Lacrimosa with a real fugue on the word "Amen".

This alternative ending with an "Amen"-fugue was tried in the eighties of the 20th. century by contemporary composer and musicologist, Richard Maunder, who used Mozart's scetches as basis for his fugue.

There is a recording of Christopher Hogwood and The Acadamy of Ancient Music from 1988.

Celebrating the 200th.anniversary a
of Mozart's death in 1991 also Duncan Druce and Robert.D.Levin came up with their own reconstructions of the Mozart Requiem and with their own "Amen"-fugues for the Lacrimosa.

Hogwood also recorded the Druce version in 1991.

You can find this alternative versions also here on YT (, if not deleted due to copyright reasons .)

Let's give Süßmayr the credit he deserves !

And he was even ten years younger than his master, Mozart, just aged 25, when he had completed Mozart's Requiem, and by doing so arguably preserved Mozart's last work for the future.

And isn't it really ominous, that Mozart had died, just when he was writing about the individual judgement by God, that each human, who had died, has to face immediately after his last breath ?!

" Full of tears that day,
when from the ashes shall rise
a guilty man to be judged... .."

....and gone he was ! ✝️



All comments from YouTube:

@moisttowelettes3640

“Damn that test was hard”
“Yeah especially the back”
“Th- the back”

@natestathes

😂🤣😂🤣😂

@thephilosopher7173

whats the reference?

@gabrielalejandrodoldan4722

Oh no...
No, noo, nooo, Noooo!!!

@4f52

@@thephilosopher7173 School

@theOGsavage

@@thephilosopher7173 the student forgot the last page of the test/exam

112 More Replies...

@user-vb6rp4ys8x

I can't believe it. I listened to this song first when I was 17 when it had come out. Now I am 232 years old and it still hits my heart.

@gabers_123

💀

@Eltenshi_exe

I wanted to go to the concert in the Louis XV castle at Versailles, but the leprosy hits me so hard 💀😭

@joshuatrue2856

Real. Still hits hard to this day.

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