Carnegie Hall: The English Concert Performs Handel's Theodora

Yesterday afternoon, Stern Auditorium was less than half full as a handful of Baroque music lovers skipped the Superbowl parties to instead spend four hours attending one of Handel's lesser known oratorios as it was played on period instruments.

That Theodora is not as famous as Messiah is in no way a fault of the music - this work contains some of Handel's best work.  It was written when he was 64 and had reached the height of his powers.  Its initial lack of success is rather a reflection on eighteenth century English audiences' antipathy toward anything that might be considered "papish," including tales of early Christian martyrs.

The oratorio, composed in three acts, is the story of the chaste virgin Theodora of Alexandria, here transposed to Antioch, who is condemned by the authorities to become a prostitute in the Temple of Venus as a penalty for having refused to make sacrifice to the ancient Roman gods.  Her savior is the centurion Didymus who eventually is beheaded with her as punishment for having helped her escape.  Though the story is largely apocryphal, those who have read Durrell's Alexandria Quartet will find a certain resonance in a story of religious prostitution set in that city.  An interesting aside is that the oratorio's libretto was based on a 1687 novel by the Irishman Robert Boyle who was much better known as a physicist ("Boyle's law") and chemist than as a religious writer. 

Handel himself was bitter at the reception given this work.  (It closed after only four performances.)  He often declared that this was his favorite oratorio and, when asked if he saw the Hallelujah chorus in the Messiah as his masterpiece, stated flatly: "No, I think that the chorus as the end of the second part in Theodora is far beyond it."  This stunningly complex chorus, entitled "He saw the lovely youth," is in fact one of the high points of the entire Baroque repertoire.  It is described in the program notes as follows:

"In the same dark F-minor key as the duet [between Theodora and Didymus], the first part opens with a halting, dirge-like orchestral ritornello; the choral voices enter one by one with grieving descending phrases.  The miracle is described with accelerating ascending scales, the various choral entrances sounding like a crowd murmuring in astonishment at what they're witnessing.  The final, lavishly contrapuntal section begins with the altos in their deepest, most womanly tones proclaiming 'Lowly the matron bow'd,' and concludes joyously and resplendently in B-flat major."

The English Concert was conducted by Harry Bicket, who also played harpsichord, and starred soprano Dorothea Röschmann as Theodora and countertenor David Daniels, winner of the 1997 Richard Tucker Award, as Didymus.  The chorus was provided by the Choir of Trinity Wall Street.  Everyone involved displayed the greatest devotion to the Baroque spirit as they zealously performed this overlooked masterwork.