Theodora (Handel)

Handel wrote Theodora during his last period of composition. He was sixty-four years old when he began working on it in June 1749. He had written the oratorios Solomon and Susanna the previous year. Theodora would be his penultimate oratorio.[1]

Theodora differs from the former two oratorios because it is a tragedy, ending in the death of the heroine and her converted lover. It is also Handel's only dramatic oratorio in English on a Christian subject.[2]

Illustration of the theatre at Covent Garden where Theodora was first performed

Thomas Morell (1703–1784) had worked with Handel before on several oratorios. He and Handel were good friends; the composer left the librettist 200 pounds in his will. Morell's source for the libretto was The Martyrdom of Theodora and of Didymus (1687) by Robert Boyle, a prominent scientist and theologian. He also borrowed from Corneille's Théodore, Vierge et Martyre.[2]

Handel finished the oratorio on 31 July 1749, and its premiere was on 16 March 1750. Theodora was a failure with the public and only played three times. There are at least two explanations for this. First, the theme of the persecution and martyrdom of a Christian saint may have been too removed from the Old Testament narratives that Londoners had become accustomed to from Handel's dramatic oratorios.[2] Second, an earthquake that transpired about a week before the premiere had caused some of Handel's usual patrons to flee the city.[1] It was the least performed of all his oratorios, being revived only once in 1755.

Some of Handel's patrons appreciated the work, however. Lord Shaftesbury wrote in a letter to a friend

I can't conclude a letter and forget Theodora. I have heard the work three times and will venture to pronounce it as finished, beautiful and labour'd [well worked-out] a composition as ever Handel made. To my knowledge, this took him up a great while in composing. The Town don't like it at all, but ... several excellent musicians think as I do.[3]

One of Handel's most loyal and enthusiastic supporters, Mary Delany, wrote to her sister Ann saying "Don't you remember our snug enjoyment of "Theodora?" Her sister replied "Surely "Theodora" will have justice at last, if it was to be again performed, but the generality of the world have ears and hear not".[3]

There are two surviving quotes of Handel about Theodora. Morell quotes Handel as saying "The Jews will not come to it because it is a Christian story; and the ladies will not come because it is a virtuous one." Handel's colleague Charles Burney took note when two musicians asked for free tickets for Messiah and Handel responded "Oh your servant, meine Herren! you are damnable dainty! you would not go to Theodora – there was room enough to dance there, when that was perform!"[3]

Theodora was actually Handel's favorite of his oratorios. The composer himself ranked the final chorus of act 2, "He saw the lovely youth", far beyond" "Hallelujah" in Messiah.[2]

It has sometimes been staged as an opera, as in 1996 Glyndebourne and 2009 Salzburg Festival productions. Both of them were recorded and released as DVDs.

The original libretto included an extra scene in which Septimius converted to Christianity himself, but it was never set by Handel, though it was printed. The second scene in act 2 was also subject to several revisions by Handel.

The oratorio is scored for 2 sections of violins, violas, cellos, double basses, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, harpsichord, and organ. A harpsichord and violoncello play the continuo.

Handel's music gives the choruses of Roman pagans, presented in the libretto as evil people gloating over the torture of Christians, "immense verve and charm".[3] This is contrasted with the quiet, deep conviction of the music for the choruses of Christians.[3] The chorus "He saw the lovely youth", Handel's favorite of all the choruses he wrote, depicts Jesus' raising from the dead of the widow's son in Luke, chapter 7. Beginning with slow and solemn chromatic figures in a minor key, the music switches to major as the youth returns to life and ends with joy as the boy is restored to his mother.[3] The work is notable for many passages of exalted and radiant beauty as well as for skilled characterisation through music.[1] There are three duets, the last being a sublime piece in which Theodora and Didymus die.

Handel uses trumpets, horns, and drums in the Roman scenes. Flutes are introduced in the prison scene, but some arias are very lightly accompanied which raises them far above the text.

(Note: "Symphony" in this context means a purely instrumental piece, a sinfonia. "Accompagnato" is a recitative accompanied by the orchestra, rather than by continuo instruments only, as in the passages marked "recitative".)

The 1996 production by William Christie with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, produced by Peter Sellars, was described as a "landmark". Dawn Upshaw sang Theodora, David Daniels sang Didymus,[6] and the execution of each lead character was set "on a gurney in a Texas military hospital awaiting execution" by lethal injection. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sang Irene.[7] A DVD of the production was available from the Glyndebourne online shop.[8]

In 2022, the Royal Opera House in London staged its first production since the 1750 premiere. Directed by Katie Mitchell, the production was set in "an alternative modern-day reality".[9]

• Complete libretto of Theodora (hosted by Stanford University)
• Score of Theodora (ed. Friedrich Chrysander, Leipzig 1860)
• Theodora: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project