In March, 1811, he composed a long vocal piece, "Hagar's Lament over Her Dying Son."

The term obbligato or obbligato accompaniment is also used for an independent instrumental solo accompanying a vocal piece.

There he is, sitting next to Meredith Monk as they sing her beautiful, haunting vocal piece Dolmen Music.

His output includes five operas, three symphonies, and literally hundreds of vocal pieces for solo voice and ensembles of various sizes.

In the inventive Concerti a due cori, adaptations of choruses from Messiah and other vocal pieces turn up, and are beautifully rephrased.