Handel’s penultimate oratorio was not a success. A total of just five performances were arranged. The subject matter was evidently too unfamiliar for Londoners. Now Theodora is being published in the Complete Edition, with vocal score and performance material.

The oratorio Theodora HWV 58, edited by Colin Timms, is being published in the Halle Handel Edition (HHA). Thomas Morell (1703–84) wrote the libretto, based on Robert Boyle’s  short novel Love and Religion demonstrated in the Martyrdom of Theodora and Didymus of 1687. The story is about a young Christian woman in Antioch in the early fourth century, which was then under Roman rule. Theodora declined to take part in the holy rites in honour of Jupiter. As a punishment, she was forced into prostitution. She is prepared to die for her beliefs. To the astonishment of the Romans, she goes to martyrdom with Didymus, a Roman officer whom she has converted to Christianity. The composer left the ending open in order to emphasize the glory and misery of self-sacrifice, rather than the possibility of redemption.

Handel composed his penultimate oratorio in summer 1749, and performed it for the first time at the Covent Garden Theatre on 16 March 1750. There were only three further performances in Handel’s lifetime.

Although the tickets sold badly, Handel held Theodora in particularly high esteem, and he evidently regarded the chorus “He saw the lovely youth” as a masterpiece. The oratorio’s failure was attributed to various factors including the earthquake in London in spring 1750 and the fact that the libretto was not based on a biblical story. In a letter written some time between 1776 and 1786 to the printer and antiquary John Nicholas, Morell recorded Handel’s reaction to the poorly attended second performance. The librettist told him that he had “just seen Sir T. Hankey, and he desired me to tell you, that if you would have it again, he would engage for all the Boxes.” Handel is said to have replied: “He is a fool; the Jews will not come to it (as to Judas) because it is a Christian story; and the Ladies will not come, because it [is] a virtuous one.” The lukewarm reception from the public wounded Handel deeply. The performances were so badly attended that he was pleased when some of the musicians, who were not playing, accepted free tickets. According to Charles Burney, two of these gentlemen declined the offer, but asked for a ticket for Messiah. Thereupon Handel is said to have cried out: “Oh you sarvant, Mien-herren! you are tamnaple tainty! you would not co to Teodora – der was room enough to tance dere, when dat was perform.”

Since the end of the eighteenth century, a score and four vocal scores have been published. The edition by Friedrich Chrysander for the Deutsche Händelgesellschaft is not complete, and the vocal score of 1971 by Günther Weissenborn for the Göttinger Händelgesellschaft was a revision of Chrysander’s version. In Watkins Shaw’s vocal score for the Novello Handel Edition (1984) the work was published in its complete form. This volume in the HHA is the first publication of a complete critical edition. Using the sources available, it has been possible to recreate three performable versions: the main part contains the version from the first performance, and two appendices include the alterations from the performances of 1750–55 and additional alterations for the 1759 version. The edition also includes an extensive foreword, a new German singing translation, numerous facsimile pages and a detailed Critical Commentary.                  

Annette Landgraf
(translation: Elizabeth Robinson)
from: [t]akte 1/2009