I am very excited to share a new composition that I wrote for the women's schola at my parish. The text is taken from the primary prayer of the Holy Face Chaplet (Arise, O Lord...) based on Psalm 67:2 (Vulgate numbering).

Usually I can only share a computer-generated approximation of the pieces I post; but this time, additionally, I have an actual live recording taken on my phone during the Holy Face devotions at my parish from this past Sunday, thanks to eight ladies making an extra sacrifice of time to learn and sing it. That day was also the beginning of a mission Fr. Carney preached at my parish this past week on the Holy Face, making reparation, and how necessary this devotion is in combating the evils of our time.

The composition itself is in four parts and could be sung either as SSSA or SSAA. Free PDF, playback, and the live recording are available at the following link, if it may be of use to others on the forum:

https://www.catholicliving.net/surge-domine/

I made an effort to use tight harmonies and dissonances in this piece as word painting. Soprano 1 even enters in dissonance against the Alto's D. Later, the unexpected E natural in measure 16 intentionally colors the harmony, producing a slight sickly feeling as the harmony then resolves back to C-minor through a dissonance of B-flat against A. Musically, I am trying to convey the following idea: All the creatures of God ought to be attracted with great joy to His most Holy Face; yet that beauty is become a fright to those that hate Him, and from which they are compelled to flee.