Dona nobis pacem (Latin for "Grant us peace") is a phrase in the Agnus Dei section of the mass. The phrase, in isolation, has been appropriated for a number of musical works, which include:

Classical music[edit]

• "Dona nobis pacem", a traditional round
• Dona nobis pacem, fugue by Ludwig van Beethoven (now thought genuine), Hess Anh. 57 (1795)
• Dona nobis pacem, cantata by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1936)
• Title of the third movement of Symphonie Liturgique by Arthur Honegger (1945)
• Title of a choral work by Ann Loomis Silsbee (1981)^[1]
• Dona nobis pacem for choir and orchestra by the Latvian composer, Pēteris Vasks (1996)
• Title of section of Adiemus V: Vocalise by Karl Jenkins (2003)

Literature[edit]

• "Dona Nobis Pacem" is repeatedly quoted in Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock by its antihero Pinkie Brown.
• "Dona Nobis Pacem" is used in Graham Greene's 1966 novel The Comedians.

Other[edit]

• Included in Bobby Darin's 1960 Christmas album The 25th Day of December
• The title of a song, from the Present from Nancy LP by the Dutch band Supersister (1970)
• At the end of Pray Your Gods by Toad the Wet Sprocket (1992)
• Included in an arrangement of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" recorded by Wayne Watson on One Christmas Eve (1994)
• A song performed by cast members (as an impromptu choir) in the 1978 M*A*S*H Christmas episode "Dear Sis."
• Bass guitarist Michael Manring performs an instrumental version on the 1993 Windham Hill compilation A Winter's Solstice IV.
• Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman performs a song on the 1996 Windham Hill compilation The Carols of Christmas.
• A setting by David Fanshawe, on the 1994 recording of African Sanctus.
• One track of the album No Boundaries, by Ladysmith Black Mambazo (2006)
• Track 12 of the album Whiskey Tango Ghosts, by Tanya Donelly (2004)
• The phrase is used by the Doctor - season 4, episode 6 of Doctor Who, "The Poison Sky" - when speaking in code to Donna Noble who is trapped on the TARDIS by the Sontarans. (Original airdate: 3 May 2008)
• Sister Steven, a character in the comic strip 9 Chickweed Lane repeatedly uses the phrase when her patience is being tried.
• The phrase is repeated in the song "Old City (Instrumental)" on the album Instrumentals by the Shanghai Restoration Project (2008).
• The title of a track in the Max Richter score for the HBO show The Leftovers.
• The title of a composition by Motoi Sakuraba in Tales of Destiny 2 and featured throughout the series.
• A song performed by an unnamed family in season 3, episode 11 of The Handmaid's Tale, "Liars".
• Referenced in the second half of the song "She Was Naked" (1970) by Supersister

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Definitions and translations at Wiktionary:
  • dona
  • nobis
  • pacem