George Frideric Handel's prolific musical output included forty-six operas and thirty-two oratorios. In the rather schematic and formal Baroque musical narrative style, however, the two genres were often only distinguished by the fact that the operas were meant for the stage and the oratorios were concert pieces. Otherwise, their methods of musically telling a story, be it mythological, Christian, or historical, were very similar, although Handel's operas were usually in Italian (even when written for London audiences) and his oratorios in English. The excellent Bach Collegium San Diego - founded just six years ago by its accomplished and ambitious music director Ruben Valenzuela - has presented a ravishing performance of Handel's "Theodora," written late in his career as his next-to-last oratorio, even though it has sometimes been given fully operatic staging (most notably at Glyndebourne in 1996).

George Frideric Handel

Copyright©2009 G. Weinberg-Harter

The Bach Collegium has presented the piece in traditional concert form, but otherwise spared little effort in making this what must be as lavish and authentic a production as the one Handel premiered at Covent Garden in 1750. The twenty-eight piece orchestra, all playing on authentic or reproduction period instruments, the fine chorus of twenty-four voices, and the five professional vocal soloists perform in 18th century style under the expert direction of Richard Egarr, energetically conducting bestride his stool at the harpischord, whose continuo and recitative accompaniments are augmented by the great gawky theorbo (a kind of huge lute) of Daniel Zuluaga, and the gorgeous- sounding 1680 violoncello of William Skeen.

The story is based on legends concerning a Saint Theodora, persecuted and martyred during the 2nd century under Valens, the governor of Antioch in the Roman Empire. Because the Christian virgin Theodora refuses to reverence the Roman gods, Valens condemns her to become "a prostitute"- a doom made brutally explicit enough in the words of Thomas Morell's libretto. "The meanest of my guards," decrees Valens, "Shall triumph o'er her boasted chastity." And others lament that she is "condemned to public lust" and "to unexampled lust and cruelty."

Theodora naturally enough regards this sentence as a fate "worse than death" (perhaps one of the earliest citations of that familiar phrase) and longs for deliverance to Heaven. Meanwhile, of the two soldiers whom Valens detailed to arrest and imprison Theodora, one of them, Didymus, turns out to be a secret Christian himself, in love with the chaste Theodora, while the other, his comrade Septimus, though a pagan, is sympathetic to Didymus' scheme to rescue the girl. Didymus achieves this by allowing her to escape disguised in his uniform. But when this provokes the enraged Valens to condemn Didymus to execution, Theodora surrenders herself to join her rescuer in serene martyrs' deaths.

Though Handel is said to have regarded "Theodora" as the favorite among his own oratorios, over and above the perennially popular "Messiah," it did not fare so well with the public during his lifetime. The Earl of Shaftsbury, who attended three premiere performances, agreed, calling it "as finished, beautiful and labour'd composition, as ever Handel made," but noted: "The town don't like it at all." Handel had indeed predicted that "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." And he chided friends who asked him for comps to a revival of "Messiah" instead, telling them, "You are damnable dainty! You would not go to 'Theodora' - there was room enough to dance there when that was performed."

This story of a virtuous woman sexually persecuted, however, should not necessarily have presented any obstacle to popular success. The subject has long proved a deeply touching one, with shocking examples abounding from antiquity to the present day. Handel had already employed a similar theme two years earlier in his oratorio "Susanna," based on that Old Testament tale of Susanna and the Elders which has continued to inspire artists, composers, and poets throughout the ages. Moreover, Samuel Richardson's widely read 1748 novel "Clarissa Harlowe" had just offered London readers a cognate narrative of a blameless maiden seduced and confined in a house of ill repute until she dies from humiliation and grief. And a contemporary American example even may be seen in the current melodramatic thriller film "Taken," about the rescue of a teen-age girl abducted into what used to be called White Slavery.

Moreover, the libretto's story is a touching one on other levels. To be a martyr means being so strong and steadfast a witness to one's ideals - be they religious, intellectual, or political - that you are willing to suffer and even die for them. Hope of Heaven may add a further dimension, but not a required one. The secular self-sacrifice of Neda Aghan Soltan during the recent political troubles in Iran seems to be proving as potently moving to people everywhere as any legends of early Christian martyrdom might once have been. And beyond the scandalous sexual aspects of Theodora's persecution, there seems to be a clear political element as well in Morell's libretto that relates to the Age of Enlightenment in which it was written. The text's repeated references to "life and liberty" and "liberty and life," though not alien to antiquity, resound with particular relevance in the mid 18th century. Only a generation later they were to become key words in Thomas Jefferson's republican rallying cries. The rousing chorus that concludes Act 3, Scene 2 of "Theodora" ends with such a moving reiteration of that phrase "liberty and life" that one might hear echoes of Jefferson's very words so touchingly set by Randall Thompson in "The Testament of Freedom" (1943): "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them." ("A Summary View of the Rights of British America," 1774).

But of course it is the sweetness and joy of Handel's music that breathes extraordinary life into "Theodora"'s text. As to whether the work is superior to "Messiah," that is a moot point best left to individual taste."Theodora" certainly is in no wise inferior to it. We all love "Messiah," no matter how many times we hear it; and surely we have heard it most repeatedly. Considering the consistantly high quality of Handel's huge oeuvre and the immediate delight it gives, it is especially refreshing to hear relatively little known works such as "Theodora."

And there are some points of comparison and contrast between the two oratorios. Clearly the differing materials led Handel aptly to adapt his musical methods. The focused personal story of "Theodora" does not possess the same sort of sweep and grandeur found in "Messiah"'s often distanced narrative, which derives from messianic Biblical prophecies and supporting Gospel extracts; whereas "Messiah" has none of "Theodora"'s intimate character interchanges and soliloquies. "Theodora" does, however, present some "Messiah"-like episodes, particularly in its several choruses of "Christians" - which dramatically represent the Christian community's sympathetic reactions to the cruel treatment and fate of Theodora and Didymus. The Chorus "He saw the lovely youth, death's early prey," which ends the second act, is very parallel - in its sentiments, its rhythms, and its structure of contrasting tempi and moods - to "Since by man came death" in "Messiah." And "Theodora"'s Solo and Chorus "Blest be the hand, and blest the pow'r" conveys the same sort of upbeat vigor and strength as "Messiah"'s concluding Chorus "Worthy is the Lamb." And these choruses also share those wonderful overlapping and cascading Handelian vocal effects that lend so much delight to "Messiah." It is completely characteristic, however, of the gentler and more contemplative moods of "Theodora" that its concluding Chorus of Christians, "O love divine, thou source of fame," is composed in a calm and measured chorale style, similar to the choruses that end J.S. Bach's Passions. Along with the ethereal dying duet of Theodora and Didymus, "Thither let our hearts aspire," that precedes it, the music allows the oratorio to fade serenely away into the celestial. As Wallace Stevens wrote, "So maidens die, to the auroral/Celebration of a maiden's choral."

But Handel distinguishes in "Theodora" between two sorts of choruses - those of Christians and those of Heathens. The Christian chorus, as noted before, comments pityingly upon the fates of the two martyrs. The Heathens, on the other hand, instead comment approvingly on the tyrannical actions of the Roman governor Valens, and in a markedly different choral manner as well. These Heathens usually sing in a much more straightforward and rollicking style, favoring unison over harmony and canon, as they bless imperialism, condone punishment, and hymn the pleasures of polytheism. As such, they recall some of the vigorous soldiers' choruses of Handel's "Alexander's Feast."

Valens himself provides a measure of melodramatic relief as a type of relishable and robust villain. One thinks of the monster Polypheme who adds similar swaggering pleasures to Handel's "Acis and Galatea." Sung with unrestrained sneering gusto and perfect diction by the excellent baritone John Polhamus, Valens jumpstarts the oratorio's first scene into immediate dramatic life with his vigorous villainy and concludes the episode with the deliciously furious Air "Racks, gibbet, sword and fire," backed by brass players who depart with him, leaving most of the rest of the work to be accompanied by gentler strings and woodwinds. But Polhamus' Valens happily returns near the story's end with further delightful conniptions in his airs "Cease, ye slaves, your fruitless pray'r!" and "Ye ministers of justice, lead them hence." Polhamus fairly out-Herods Herod.

The backbone of "Theodora" is constructed of emotionally exquiste airs and duets that give the work its more intimate character. The duet "To thee, thou glorious son of worth" between Theodora and Didymus is an emotional high point; and that of Theodora with her best friend, Irene - "Whither, Princess, do you fly?" - stands as the most truly operatic exchange in this oratorio. And the gentle blending of the voices of the expiring Theodora and Didymus in their final duet achieves a climax of gorgeous calm. Most of the airs are composed in the typical aria da capo style of the period, of which Handel was a supreme master. The composer is always discovering new and expressive ways of varying the words of the text, and his excursions into the contrasting middle sections of his arias often come upon the listener with bursts of surprise and delight that are hugely satisfying.

The rest of the soloists perform these with much Baroque skill and musical beauty. The young Canadian soprano Mireille Asselin sings the title role with lovely floating tones, and performs the sequence - comprising the two arias "With darkness deep" and "But why art thou disquieted" - during which Theodora passes through her dark night of the soul into peace and acceptance, with excellent transition from despair to joy. Countertenor Darryl Taylor, as her rescuer Didymus, shows good lower register and beautiful top notes that blend well with Asselin in their duets, and demonstrates wondeful contrasts of langorous delicacy and quick energy in "Kindly Heav'n, if virtue be thy care." Singing the role of Didymus' fellow guard officer Septimus, Derek Chester's tenor voice has volume and flexibility showing in his arias "From virtue springs each gen'rous deed," "Descend kind pity," and especially the delightfully vigorous melismatic runs of the furious "Dread the fruits of Christian folly" a beauty that compensates any slight deficit of punch. Jennifer Lane, veteran mezzo, performs Irene, Theodora's confidant, in a mature voice of much skill, if sometimes uncertain placement, and great feeling. And the small role of Messenger - which seems almost a remnant of an earlier convention of a narrator in oratorios - is well sung by Kirshan Oberoi.

Despite "Theodora"'s considerable duration - some three hours, not even counting the two long intermissions - the beauty of Handel's music and the excitement of the Bach Collegium's performance of this rarely heard oratorio made the time fairly fly along. While immersed in the riches of such sounds, one might be excused for feeling - despite one's great love for the music of the Renaissance and the Classical, Romantic, Modern, and Post-Modern periods - that the Baroque represents a summit of western musical art never truly equalled before or since. I feel certain that many of us fortunate enough to attend this exhilarating concert must hope fervently for similar revivals here of some of the many of the other glorious and extravagant vocal and choral opuses of Handel and his contemporaries. Long may the Bach Collegium San Diego thrive!

Bach Collegium San Diego in Handel's "Theodora" at the Balboa Theatre

Copyright©2009 Bjorn Bjerede

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