Georg Frideric Handel was a composer from the Baroque period. Handel wrote primarily music-dramatic works: 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, which comes to a total amount of almost 2000 arias! Furthermore, he composed English, Italian and Latin sacred music, serenades and odes. Among his instrumental music are several organ concertos, concerti grossi, overtures, oboe sonatas and violinsonates, along with many solo works for harpsichord and organ.

Together with Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the same year (1685), Handel is viewed as one of the greatest composers of his time. He was extremely prolific and wrote in total more than 610 works, many of which are still performed today.

Compared to his contemporaries Bach, Telemann and Scarlatti, Handel was by far the most cosmopolitan. When Handel was a child, his father, who was a surgeon at the court of Saxe-Weissenfels, imagined a juridical career for him. But his musical talents did not go unnoticed at the court, which forced the father to let him study music. In Hamburg, Handel befriended Mattheson. Together they visited Buxtehude, the greatest organ player of his time, in 1703 (two years before Bach did). At that time, Handel was already an excellent musician, but it wasn't until his stay in Italy - the land of opera - that his talents and skills truly started to flourish. Back in Germany, he received a position at the court of Hannover, where the noblemen had a connection to the British throne. Thanks to these connections, Handel decided to move to London, after which a puzzling history of intrigues and political games started. For example, it is unclear what the exact political message of his famous Water Music is, which was composed for a boat ride on the river Thames by King George. Initially, Handel focused on Italian opera during his stay in London, but from the 1730s onwards he started composing English spoken oratorios, with the celebrated Messiah at its peak.

Giuseppe Sammartini was an Italian composer and oboeist. He was the older brother of the composer and organist Giovanni Battista Sammartini. Both were sons of the French oboeist Alexis Saint-Martin, who was known as Alessio Sammartini in Milan; their mother Gerolama de Federici came from a family of famous Milanese oboeists. Giuseppe Sammartini grew out to be one of the most famous oboe-virtuosos of his time.

He started studying the oboe with his father and for years he took place in the orchestra of the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan. He was already regarded as a virtuoso then. His play was said to be lyrical and was often compared to the human voice. In 1727, he had built such a good reputation that he could make a good living as a soloist in London, where he stayed until his death. George Frideric Handel, too, was impressed by his skills and dedicated several oboe solos in his operas to him. In London, Sammartini also had succes as a composer. In particular his sonatas were widely loved and were performed regularly. His solo concertos, however, were mostly published posthumously. Yet, these concertos revived in the 19th century. His style can be characterised as a typical baroque style, more so than his brother's, however at times classical influences can be heard as he makes of the sonata form and the rondo.