The final movement is the best known part of the symphony, thanks to its use in the Julia Roberts movie, Sleeping With The Enemy. It features a four-part structure, which Hector Berlioz described in his own program notes from 1845 as follows:

“He sees himself at a witches’ Sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come together for his funeral. Strange sounds, groans, outbursts of laughter; distant shouts which seem to be answered by more shouts. The beloved melody appears once more, but has now lost its noble and shy character; it is now no more than a vulgar dance tune, trivial and grotesque: it is she who is coming to the Sabbath… Roar of delight at her arrival… She joins the diabolical orgy… The funeral knell tolls, burlesque parody of the Dies irae, the dance of the witches. The dance of the witches combined with the Dies irae.”

The Dies irae melody is one of the most-quoted in musical literature, appearing in the works of many diverse composers.

The traditional Gregorian melody has also been used as a theme or musical quotation in a number of  classical compositions, notable among them:

• Charles-Valentin Alkan – Souvenirs: Trois morceaux dans le genre pathétique, Op. 15 (No. 3: Morte)
• Ernest Bloch – Suite Symphonique
• Hector Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique
• Johannes Brahms – Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118, No. 6, Intermezzo in E-flat minor
• George Crumb – Black Angels
• Michael Daugherty – Metropolis Symphony 5th movement, “Red Cape Tango”; Dead Elvis (1993) for bassoon and chamber ensemble
• Luigi Dallapiccola – Canti di prigionia
• Diamanda Galás – Masque of the Red Death: Part I – The Divine Punishment
• Donald Grantham – Baron Cimetiére’s Mambo
• Charles Gounod – Faust opera, act 4
• Joseph Haydn – Symphony No. 103, “The Drumroll”
• Bernard Herrmann – Jason and the Argonauts (1963) – quoted during the scene of the scattering of the hydra’s teeth
• Gustav Holst – The Planets, movement 5, “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age”
• Arthur Honegger – La Danse des Morts, H. 131
• Aram Khachaturian – Symphony No. 2 in E minor
• Franz Liszt – Totentanz
• Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 2, movements 1 and 5
• Modest Mussorgsky – Songs and Dances of Death, No.3 “Trepak”
• Nikolai Myaskovsky – Symphony No. 6, Op. 23, Piano Sonata No.2, Op.13
• Lionel Newman – Compulsion (1959 film)
• Sergei Rachmaninoff – Symphony No. 1, Op. 13; Symphony No. 2, Op. 27; Symphony No. 3, Op. 44; Isle of the Dead, Op. 29; The Bells choral symphony, Op. 35; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43; Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
• Ottorino Respighi – quoted near the end of the second movement of Impressioni Brasiliane (Brazilian Impressions)
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Danse Macabre, Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony)
• Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 14
• Stephen Sondheim – Sweeney Todd – quoted in the accompaniment to “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” and “Epiphany”
• Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji – Sequentia cyclica super “Dies irae” ex Missa pro defunctis and eight other works
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Manfred Symphony, Orchestral Suite No. 3
• Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – 24 Caprichos de Goya, Op. 195: “XII. No hubo remedio” (plate 24)
• Eugène Ysaÿe – Solo Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 27, No. 2 “Obsession”
• Bernd Alois Zimmermann – Musique pour les soupers du roi Ubu
• Hans Zimmer – “Rock House Jail” from The Rock soundtrack
• Vítězslav Novák – used the theme near the end of his May Symphony
• Hans Huber – used the theme in his third symphony.
• Bathory – on their album Blood Fire Death (1988)
• Alan Menken – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film)
• Death Note (2006)
• The Melvins – on their album “Nude with Boots” (2008)
• Carolina Crown – in its DCI program entitled “Inferno” (2015)

Free sheet music from IMSLP for the basic Dies irae

Free sheet music from IMSLP for the basic Symphonie fantastique (look under Arrangements and Transcriptions)

The basic Gregorian Chant

An animated version of the  Dreams of a Witches’ Sabbath from Symphonie fantastique.  Can you hear the Dies irae in this?  It starts around 3:18.

Leonard Bernstein conducts the “Orchestre National de France” in Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique
5th Movement

Arranged for piano

A listening guide