Handel spent from 1706 to 1709 in Italy in order to broaden his musical studies. During 1707, he wrote three Latin cantatas: Laudate Pueri, Nisi Dominus and Dixit Dominus – one of his rare excursions into this language. Dixit Dominus is a setting of Psalm 110, and it contains some of the most powerful music Handel ever wrote, showing an amazingly mature grasp of the dramatic possibilities of the text.

      Franz Schubert had two periods in his life when his compositional outputs were absolutely remarkable – one was the year 1815 (when he was just 18) and the other during the final months of his short life. In 1815, while working full-time as a school teacher, he composed his second and third symphonies, two masses, a string quartet, two piano sonatas, four Singspiele, and 145 songs (including the Erlkönig), among other works. The Mass in G (No. 2, D 167) was written in six days in March 1815, but not published until 1846, 18 years after his death. Originally scored for soprano, tenor, bass, chorus, strings and organ, Schubert later added trumpet and timpani.