Arise in Beauty
anthem for SATB chorus & organ

Details:

SATB Chorus, Organ
Duration: 7'
Text: Angier Brock
Composed: 2010
Published by: Subito Music Publishing

Minimum order quantity: 8 copies. To order quantities fewer than 8, please email customer service at sales@subitomusic.com.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uL2wa50IMg
Ms. Brock’s moving poem is lyrical throughout. Even in its beautiful originality, the poem invokes The Book of Common Prayer and biblical scripture (the latter through references to “dust” and “breath” from Genesis 2 to the final line of the poem invoking the opening of Psalm 62). Ms. Brock’s poetry is also filled with wonderful twists on traditional texts (such as in the creative and reverse naming of the Trinity in speaking of “Inventing Wind,” “Generous Christ,” and “Luminous God”). Musically, the main melodic material of the piece is immediately heard on a solo organ color accompanied by organ strings over a recurring pedal pulse on the pitch “C.” The chorus soon enters with the first stanza of the text. As this stanza unfolds, the harmony starts to gradually change as the pulsing pedal rhythm begins to move upward by step. An organ interlude, reflective of the opening introduction, soon emerges (though now over a “C-sharp” recurring pedal pulse), and leads to a similar choral setting as found in stanza one. As the poem’s second stanza moves forward, it eventually folds into the more harmonically rich stanza three. A fast, dance-like section evolves at “Inventing Wind, what a lively dance your energy creates!” eventually bringing the work to its climax point. The spirit of dance soon subsides and leads to a quiet and gentle close on the words ”…for you alone my soul in silence waits.”