From his ambitions to join parisian society and watching Napoleonic troops march through Vienna, Beethoven lived through a number of major revolutions politically and culturally and created some of his own within the musical sphere. One of these revolutions was his work in writing for string quartet. What was once a medium that intimidated him due to its dominance by Haydn and Mozart, the later works of Beethoven’s career, like the Op. 131 performed today, exemplify not only his mastery of the musical form but the boundaries that he had broken and created anew.

Today, Mass’s don’t seem particularly political, but for William Byrd writing one was an action that would result in charges of treason and execution. In the wake of the ascent of Elizabeth I and the reestablishment of English Protestantism, Catholicism was strictly illegal and any ties or aid to Catholics were considered an action against the Crown. Still, William Byrd continued to write masses that could be sung within a family to hide their Catholic beliefs from the world.