During Advent in 2020 we’ve experienced the stark contrast between increasing gloom \u2014 the worsening reach of the pandemic, severe political crises, economic dire straits, our separation from family and friends \u2014 and new-found hope now that vaccines are becoming available after the amazing scientific success that produced them. \u201cHelp is coming!\u201d say our public-health leaders, instilling hope for the salvation of our way of life, even as they warn against the dangers that will persist in the months ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advent is always a time of hope even in the gloom, celebrating God’s great promise, in Christ’s birth, of salvation for the world. Some music that captures the heightened hope at the end of Advent with the joyful anticipation of Christmas Eve is this festive motet with dance-like rhythms: Machet die Tore weit<\/em>, set by Andreas Hammerschmidt (1611-75), an organist celebrated for his sacred compositions who worked for most of his career in Zittau, then in Saxony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shown here in a recording session from December 2018, performed by the Knabenchor Hannover and La festa musicale, this is the longer of Hammerschmidt’s two settings, published late in his life (in the collection Fest- und Zeit-Andachten<\/em>, Dresden, 1671). The finished recording is on Spotify<\/a>, and a score is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n