For students at the Roosevelt School in Bridgeport, the answer might be that they helped write a 20-minute oratorio.

The composer Bononcini wrote six serenatas, an oratorio and five operas while in his service (1692-1697).

He wrote a very large oratorio called Les Béatitudes.

He also wrote an oratorio, "Christmas Wrappings," which was performed annually at the church for a decade, and appeared occasionally in cabarets around town.

Elgar thought for a long time about the idea of writing an oratorio about the apostles.

Back in his native Florence in 1723, Veracini played music in a church and wrote an oratorio.

Handel wrote a 1746 oratorio on the subject.

He wrote a second oratorio, Les Deux Âmes, which was composed between 1905 and 1909 but did not premiere until 1913.

Nor did Bruckner ever write an oratorio.

Camilla de Rossi wrote an oratorio about him (1710).