a) Old Testament

1. The creation of the world (Genesis 1-3) as paraphrased in John Milton's Paradise Lost (1674): Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation (1798), Rubinstein's oratorio The Lost Paradise (1875), Krzysztof Penderecki's opera The Lost Paradise (1978), and Darius Milhaud's ballet La Création du monde (1923).

2. Tobias and the Angel (Book of Tobit 5:4-23; 6, 1-19; 12:1-22): Haydn's oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia (1774-75), Arthur Bliss's television opera Tobias and the Angel (1960).

3. Jacob wrestling with the angel (Genesis 28:12-16): Arnold Schoenberg's oratorio Jacob's Ladder (1917/22), Penderecki's orchestral composition The Awakening of Jacob (1974).

4. Elias and the Angels (1st and 2nd Book of Kings); Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah (1846).

b) New Testament:

1. The annunciation of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-38): every vocal composition which uses words from the popular prayer to the Virgin Mary, Ave Maria (“Hail Mary”); the Gregorian antiphon Ave Maria and its various polyphonic or choral settings by Josquin Desprez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Giulio Caccini, Charles Gounod, Brahms, Anton Bruckner, and contemporary composers such as Tavener and Górecki.

2. The birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:20-24; 2:13-14; Luke 2:9-14): Luke's verse 14 was used to create the Hymn of Glory (“Glory to God in the Highest”) which appears as a Common Mass (Gloria); the whole of Matthew's and Luke's text's are sung in medieval liturgical dramas, Christmas histories (Heinrich Schütz), cantatas and oratorios (Bach, Handel).

3. Christ's Resurrection (Matthew 28:2-7, Mark 16:5-7, Luke 24:4-7, John 20:11-13): music engaged with this topic from the very beginning, first in the 11th-century Wipo of Burgundy's Easter sequence Victimae paschali laudes, then as the trope Quem quaeritis? (Whom do you seek?), which developed into the Latin drama Visitatio sepulchri (The visit to the tomb). The text was used also in several cantatas, oratorios, and histories, notably in one work by Tavener: Fall and Resurrection for soprano, contra-tenor, baritone, mixed choir and orchestra (1997). […]