Theodora (Handel)

Theodora (HWV 68) is a dramatic oratorio in three acts by George Frideric Handel, set to an English libretto by Thomas Morell. The oratorio concerns the Christian martyr Theodora and her Christian-converted Roman lover, Didymus. It had its first performance at Covent Garden Theatre on 16 March 1750.

Not popular with audiences in Handel's day, "Theodora" is now recognised as a masterpiece and is sometimes fully staged as an opera.

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.

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.

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.

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. Second, an earthquake that transpired about a week before the premiere had caused some of Handel's usual patrons to flee the city. 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."

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