"Lift up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates" (LSB #341)

Many years ago, I wrote about a small feature in "Lift up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates."  A few years ago, I found many more things to note.  The text is paired with two different tunes, but this post is about "Milwaukee" (#341 in The Lutheran Service Book).

Here's the first musical phrase:

In the fifth verse, the text here is "Redeemer, come and open wide" (the sense is continued into the next line:  "My heart to Thee...").  "Come" is sung with a melisma (G F#), giving something of a sense of movement.

Here's the second musical phrase:

In the fifth verse, the text here is "My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide!"  As noted above, this continues the sense from the previous line:  "open wide / My heart to Thee."  Since "heart" is sung with a melisma (D E), there's something of a sense of the expansion of "open[ing] wide."  In the second verse, the text here is "His chariot is humility."  As if to reflect this humility, there's a musical descent.

The third musical phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "The King of kings is drawing near."  Since "drawing" is sung with a melisma (G E C#), there's a sense of movement.  There's a similar feature in the fifth verse, where the text here is "O enter with Thy grace divine" and "enter" is sung with a melisma (D G B).

The fifth musical phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "Life and salvation He doth bring."  There are multiple overlapping cross inscriptions here, illustrating that it's through His crucifixion and resurrection that Jesus brings us "life and salvation."

The sixth musical phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "Therefore rejoice and gladly sing."  "Rejoice" is sung with a melisma (A G F#), giving a sense of ebullience.  In the fourth verse, the text is "And new and nobler life begin."  "Nobler" is sung with a melisma (G F# E), giving something of a sense of the comparative nature of the adjective (more notes for a greater degree).

The eighth musical phrase:

In the first verse, the text is "Your joyful songs of praise" (it completes the sense from the previous line:  "To God the Father raise").  "Joyful" is sung with a melisma (E C A), giving a sense either of ebullience (as "rejoice" above) or of the abundance of being "-ful."  The same feature is also in the second verse, where the text is "Your grateful hymns of praise" and "grateful" is sung with the same melisma.

"Lift up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates" (LSB #340)

Many years ago, I wrote about a small feature in "Lift up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates."  A few years ago, I found many more things to note.  The text is paired with two different tunes, but this post is about "Macht hoch die Tür" (#340 in The Lutheran Service Book).

Here's the first musical phrase:

As I noted before, in the first line of the hymn, the phrase "lift up" is sung to an ascending interval (albeit only a minor third:  G to Bb), giving a sense of its meaning.

In the second verse, the text here is "A righteous Helper comes to thee."  "Comes" is sung with a melisma (Eb F), giving something of a sense of movement.

The third musical phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "The King of kings is drawing near."  Similar to the above, since "drawing" is sung with a melisma (Bb C A), there's a sense of movement.

The fifth musical phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "Life and salvation He doth bring."  The words "Life and salvation" are sung to two overlapping cross inscriptions, illustrating that it's through His crucifixion and resurrection that Jesus brings us "life and salvation."

In the third verse, the text is "The cloudless sun of joy is He," and "joy" is sung with a melisma (C Bb), giving a sense of ebullience.  In the fourth verse, the text is "So shall your Sov'reign enter in."  Like "comes" and "drawing" above, since "enter" is sung with a melisma (C Bb Ab), there's a sense of movement.

The same musical phrase is repeated as the sixth phrase, and in the first verse, the text here is "Therefore rejoice and gladly sing," and in the second, the text is "Therefore the earth is glad and sings."  "Gladly" and "glad" are both sung with melismas (C Bb Ab and C Bb, respectively), giving a sense of ebullience.

"Lift up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates"

A couple months ago, I watched the One LSB Hymn a Week video for "Lift up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates" (LSB #341):

It occurred to me that there's an ascending interval at the beginning of the first phrase, the melody to which "Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates" is sung:

The title of this tune is "Milwaukee," but in The Lutheran Service Book, "Lift up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates" is also paired with the tune "Macht hoch die Tür" (LSB #340).  The first phrase of that tune also begins with an ascending interval:

It's a smaller interval than that in "Milwaukee" (a minor third compared to a sixth), but it still provides the idea of the "lift[ing] up" in the hymn's text.

LSB #340, 341 "Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates"

Hymns #340 and #341 have different tunes but the same text, so I'm combining them into one post.

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Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Psalm 24:7-10, Isaiah 60:4-5

Psalm 24:7-10:  "Lift up your heads, O gates!  And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!  Lift up your heads, O gates!  And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory!"

Isaiah 60:4-5:  "Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.  Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you."

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The text is public domain:

Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates!
Behold, the King of glory waits.
The King of kings is drawing near;
The Savior of the world is here.
Life and salvation He doth bring;
Therefore rejoice and gladly sing.
To God the Father raise
Your joyful songs of praise.

A righteous Helper comes to thee;
His chariot is humility,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His scepter, pity in distress.
The end of all our woe He brings;
Therefore the earth is glad and sings.
To Christ the Savior raise
Your grateful hymns of praise.

How blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ the ruler is confessed!
O peaceful hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!
The cloudless sun of joy is He
Who comes to set His people free.
To God the Spirit raise
Your happy shouts of praise.

Fling wide the portals of your heart;
Make it a temple set apart
From earthly use for heav'n's employ,
Adorned with prayer and love and joy.
So shall your Sov'reign enter in
And new and nobler life begin.
To God alone be praise
For word and deed and grace!

Redeemer, come and open wide
My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide!
O enter with Thy grace divine;
Thy face of mercy on me shine.
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on
Until our glorious goal is won.
Eternal praise and fame
We offer to Thy name.

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The first line of the first verse ("Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates!") is obviously from the Psalm text, and the rest of the hymn expands on that idea.

I can't really find anything in the hymn text that specifically points to the Isaiah text that's cited, although lines like "Life and salvation He doth bring," "How blest the land, the city blest, / Where Christ the ruler is confessed! / O peaceful hearts and happy homes / To whom this King in triumph comes!" and "new and nobler life" might be extensions of "the abundance" and "the wealth" mentioned in Isaiah.

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The line "Thy face of mercy on me shine" in the last verse hints at the Aaronic blessing:  "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26).  However, that Numbers text isn't listed in the hymnal.