Machet die Tore weit (Hammerschmidt)

Hammerschmidt set composed the motet, setting verses 7–10 from Psalm 24 in German, in the translation of the Bible by Martin Luther, in English beginning: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle." (Psalms 24:7-10). The motet is scored for six vocal parts, SSATTB.^[1]

In a middle section, the questions and answers are given to two subchoirs, the high voices asking, the low voices answering. The text of verse 7 appears again, and the work is concluded by a fugel setting of the acclamation "Osianna", quoting Mark 11:10.^[1]

The motet is frequently included in collections for Advent and Christmas, typically as the title piece.^[2][3]

• Free scores by Machet die Tore weit (Hammerschmidt) in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)