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." (). The motet is scored for six vocal parts,
SSATTB. 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 . The motet is frequently included in collections for Advent and
Christmas, typically as the title piece. == References ==