Dies Irae in Classical Latin

In a sort of paradox again, like I did with such Catholic texts as the Lord's Prayer, I have recorded a text from the post-Classical Latin period in Classical Latin.

Yes, one would expect a Medieval Latin pronunciation for a text like this one. But we're allowed to let our imaginations run wild... what if Cicero or Caesar time-traveled a thousand years ahead?

This is how either of them would have recited the DIES IRAE, from the 12th century, in their standard and educated Latin accents.

Once again here, like I have done on my recording of Catullus 3, I make use of the Latin pitch accent, theorized to have been used by educated Latins, ultimately derived from an imatiation of the Ancient Greek standard speech, which is established as having had a pitch accent at the time. Having studied extensively the Ancient Romans' own explanations on the pronunciation of educated Latin speech, I am a firm supporter and believer that there was indeed a pitch accent used in formal occasions in the Golden Age of Latin -- a pitch accent which I adopt in my recitations.

Also adopted here is the organic rendition of final -m: nasalizing the preceding vowel, and influenced by the following consonant to be pronounced either as a dental ([n]), labial ([m]), or velar ([ŋ]). If final -m is found in isolation, or followed by a vowel, the preceding vowel is nasalized and lengthened.

This is, then, my rendition of the way an educated Roman would've recited the DIES IRAE during the Classical period.






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