Bach used Wolfgang Meuslin's hymn of 1531 as his text, a poetic paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm. Bach composed some 300 Church Cantatas, 200 of which survive today, many of which he wrote as cantor of the school at Thomaskirche and director of church music in Leipzig from May 1723. These vocal compositions with instrumental accompaniments, in several movements, often involving a choir, were used in the liturgy of church services.
Cantata 112 has five movements, opening with a serene choral fantasia based on Nicolaus Decius's hymn "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr," (Alone to God in the Highest be Glory), composed in 1523. As Bach indicates at the top of the sheet, the cantata is scored for four voices, two horns, two oboes d'amore, two violins, a viola, and continuo. It was first performed at Leipzig's Nikolaikirche on April 8, 1731, for the Misericordias Domini, celebrated on the second Sunday after Easter. It is thought that the first movement, considered one of Bach's greatest chorale fantasies, might have been copied from an earlier draft since his penmanship on these pages is so legible and assured. The composer's handwriting becomes increasingly untidy, with many more corrections, as he hurried to complete the score.

Mozart's Haffner Symphony, which was given its first public performance in Vienna on March 23, 1783 in the presence of Emperor Joseph II, originated in a commission to celebrate the ennoblement of the Salzburg patrician Sigmund Haffner (1756-1787) the previous summer. In July 1782, Mozart's father, Leopold, had written to his son in Vienna urgently requesting a new symphony for Haffner's elevation into the nobility.
In December 1782, Mozart requested the return of the manuscript from Salzburg for use in the Lenten concert he was preparing, so that he could have copies made for the performance. His father eventually complied and by mid-February 1783 the original score was back in Vienna. As Mozart wrote, "My new Haffner symphony has positively amazed me, for I had forgotten every single note of it. It must surely produce a good effect." For the public concert, he removed the opening march and one of the minuets, and increased the woodwind section.
In August 1865, this 57-page manuscript was presented as a gift by Karl Meyer Rothschild, Bavarian Consul General in Frankfurt, to King Ludwig II of Bavaria, to celebrate his twentieth birthday. It was housed in a custom built case of turquoise velvet and chased silver, which remains at the Morgan.

Mahler's Fifth Symphony was composed during the summers of 1901 and 1902 in his lakeside villa in the Austrian village of Maiernigg on the Worthersee and first performed in Cologne on October 18, 1904. After the first rehearsal, Mahler wrote to his wife, Alma, "The public--Oh, heavens, what are they to make of this chaos of which new worlds are forever being engendered, only to crumble in ruin the moment after? What are they to say to this primeval music, this foaming, roaring, raging sea of sound, to these dancing stars, to these breath-taking, iridescent and flashing breakers?"
This manuscript score of 297 pages is Mahler's fair copy produced during the winter of 1902-3, which he dedicated in October 1903 to "My dear Almscherl"--his affectionate term for Alma--"the faithful and brave companion on all my journeys." Mahler had married the twenty-three-year-old Alma Schindler (1879-1984) in March 1902; the Fifth Symphony's fourth movement, the tender Adagietto written for strings and harp alone, may be understood as a musical love-letter to his young bride.