2 CD - 2292-46447-2 - (p) 1991

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)






Theodora


Oratorio in three parts - Text: Thomas Morell






Overture
3' 15" CD1-1
Act I
53' 36"
- Recitative: "'tis Dioclesian's natal day" - (Valens) 0' 33"

CD1-2
- Air: "Go, my faithful soldier" - (Valens) 2' 09"
CD1-3
- Chorus: "And draw a blessing down" - (Chorus of Heathens) 2' 15"
CD1-4
- Recitative: "Vouchsafe, dread Sir" - (Didymus, Valens) 1' 00"
CD1-5
- Air: "Racks, gibbets, sword and fire" - (Valens) 2' 50"
CD1-6
- Chorus: "For ever thus stands" - (Chorus of Heathens) 2' 02"
CD1-7
- Recitative: "Most cruel edict" - (Didymus) 0' 31"
CD1-8
- Air: "The raptur'd soul" - (Didymus) 3' 47"
CD1-9
- Recitative: "I know thy virtues" - (Septimius) 0' 42"
CD1-10
- Air: "Descend, kind pity" - (Septimius) 6' 57"
CD1-11
- Recitative: "Through hard, my friends" - (Theodora) 0' 28"
CD1-12
- Air: "Fond flatt'ring world" - (Theodora) 3' 58"
CD1-13
- Recitative: "Oh bright example" - (Irene) 0' 29"
CD1-14
- Chorus: "Come, mighty Father" - (Chorus of Christians) 3' 02"
CD1-15
- Recitative: "Fly, fly, my brethren" - (Messenger, Irene) 1' 00"
CD1-16
- Air: "As with rosy steps" - (Irene) 5' 19"
CD1-17
- Chorus: "All pow'r in heaven above" - (Chorus of Christians) 2' 20"
CD1-18
- Recitative: "Mistaken wretches" - (Septimius) 0' 24"
CD1-19
- Recitative: "Deluded mortal!" - (Theodora, Septimius) 0' 45"
CD1-20
- Accompanied Recitative: "Oh worse than death indeed" - (Theodora) 0' 31"
CD1-21
- Air: "Angels, ever bright and fair" - (Theodora) 2' 53"
CD1-22
- Recitative: "Unhappy, happy crew" - (Didymus, Irene) 0' 47"
CD1-23
- Air: "Kind Heaven" - (Didymus) 2' 36"
CD1-24
- Recitative: "Oh love, how great thy pow'r" - (Irene) 0' 23"
CD1-25
- Chorus: "Go, gen'rous pious youth" - (Chorus of Christians) 5' 15"
CD1-26
Act II
45' 27"

- Recitative: "Ye men of Antioch" - (Valens) 0' 34"
CD1-27
- Chorus: "Queen of summer" - (Chorus of Heathens) 0' 47"
CD1-28
- Air: "Wide spread" - (Valens) 2' 28"
CD1-29
- Recitative: "Return, Septimius" - (Valens) 0' 33"
CD1-30
- Chorus: "Venus laughing from the skies" - (Chorus of Heathens) 1' 30"
CD1-31
- (Largo) 1' 12"
CD2-1
- Recitative: "Oh thou bright sun" - (Theodora) 0' 37"
CD2-2
- Air: "With darkness deep" - (Theodora) 3' 59"
CD2-3
- (Largo) 1' 56"
CD2-4
- Recitative: "But why art thou disquieted" - (Theodora) 0' 27"
CD2-5
- Recitative: "Septimius, I am a Christian" - (Didymus, Septimius) 0' 45"
CD2-6
- Air: "Though the honours" - (Septimius) 3' 54"
CD2-7
- Recitative: "Oh save her then" - (Didymus, Septimius) 0' 41"
CD2-8
- Recitative: "The clouds begin to veil" - (Irene) 0' 37"
CD2-9
- Air: "Defend her, Heaven" - (Irene) 5' 34"
CD2-10
- Recitative: "Or lull'd with grief" - (Didymus) 0' 21"
CD2-11
- Air: "Sweet rose and lily" - (Didymus) 2' 50"
CD2-12
- Recitative: "Oh save me, Heaven" - (Theodora, Didymus) 1' 12"
CD2-13
- Air: "The pilgrim's home" - (Theodora) 3' 06"
CD2-14
- Accompanied Recitative: "Forbid it, Heaven" - (Didymus) 0' 36"
CD2-15
- Recitative: "Ah! what is liberty" - (Theodora, Didymus) 0' 55"
CD2-16
- Duet: "To theem thou glorious son" - (Theodora, Didymus) 4' 53"
CD2-17
- Recitative: "'tis night" - (Irene) 0' 29"
CD2-18
- Chorus: "He saw the lonely youth" - (Chorus of Christians) 5' 12"
CD2-19
Act III
28' 22"
- Air: "Lord to thee" - (Irene) 4' 49"
CD2-20
- Recitative: "But see! the good, the virtuous Didymus" - (Irene, Theodora) 0' 40"
CD2-21
- Chorus: "Blest be the hand" - (Chorus of Christians, Theodora) 3' 14"
CD2-22
- Recitative: "Ah, Theodora! whence this sudden change" - (Irene, Theodora) 0' 57"
CD2-23
- Duet: "Whither, princess, do you fly?" - (Irene, Theodora) 1' 35"
CD2-24
- Recitative: "She's gone" - (Irene) 0' 29"
CD2-25
- Recitative: "Dwells there such virtuous courage" - (Septimius) 0' 14"
CD2-26
- Air: "From virtue springs" - (Septimius) 3' 18"
CD2-27
- Air: "Cease, ye slaves" - (Valens) 1' 10"
CD2-28
- Recitative: "Oppose not, Didymus" - (Theodora) 0' 28"
CD2-29
- Chorus: "How strange their ends" - (Chorus of Heathens) 2' 26"
CD2-30
- Recitative: "On me your frowns" - (Didymus, Theodora, Valens) 0' 45"
CD2-31
- Recitative: "And must such beauty suffer?" - (Didymus, Theodora, Septimius) 0' 45"
CD2-32
- Duet: "Streams of pleasure" - (Didymus, Theodora) 3' 57"
CD2-33
- Recitative: "Ere this their doom is past" - (Irene) 0' 19"
CD2-34
- Chorus: "Oh Love divine" - (Chorus of Christians) 3' 03"
CD2-35




 
Roberta Alexander, Theodora, a Christian of noble birth
Jochen Kowalski, Didymus, a Roman officier, converted by Theodora

Jard van Nes, Irene, a Christian

Hans Peter Blochwitz, Septimius, a Roman officier, his friends
Anton Scharinger, Valens, President of Antioch

Alois Glaßner, Messenger


Arnold Schönberg Chor, Chorus of Christians, Chorus of the Heathens / Erwin Ortner, Leitung


CONCENTUS MUSICUS WIEN (mit Originalinstrumenten)

- Erich Höbarth, Violine - Lila Brown, Viola
- Alice Harnoncourt, Violine - Herwig Tachezi, Violoncello
- Andrea Bischof, Violine - Max Engel, Violoncello
- Karl Höffinger, Violine - Eduard Hruza, Violone
- Helmut Mitter, Violine - Andrew Ackerman, Violone
- Anita Mitterer, Violine - Sylvie Summereder, Flauto traverso
- Peter Schoberwalter, Violine - Hans Peter Westermann, Barockoboe
- Walter Pfeiffer, Violine - Marie Wolf, Barockoboe
- Annemarie Ortner, Violine - Milan Turković, Barockfagott
- Gerold Klaus, Violine - Hector McDonald, Naturhorn
- Christine Busch, Violine - Alois Schlor, Naturhorn
- Maria Kubizek, Violine - Karl Steininger, Naturtrompete
- Peter Schoberwalter junior, Violine - Hermann Schober, Naturtrompete
- Christian Tachezi, Violine - Michael Vladar, Pauken
- Editha Fez, Violine - Herwig Tachezi, Violoncello continuo
- Lynn Pascher, Viola - Herbert Tachezi, Cembalo & Orgel
- Charlotte Geselbracht, Viola - Luca Pianca, Laute
- Dorle Sommer, Viola



Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Leitung
 
Luogo e data di registrazione
Großer Saal, Konzerthaus, Vienna (Austria) - 6 marzo 1990
Registrazione live / studio
live
Producer / Engineer
Wolfgang Mohr / Helmut Mühle / Michael Brammann
Prima Edizione CD
Teldec "Das Alte Werk" - 2292-46447-2 - (2 cd) - 62' 43" + 67' 57" - (p) 1991 - DDD
Prima Edizione LP
-

Notes
Oratorios, according to Charles Burneys "General History of Music” (London 1776/89), “had never been tried out in England, neither in public nor in private performance, until l720, when Handel composed his sacred drama `Esther”. In Italy, on the other hand, “they were already generally known in the previous century” (Burney is referring here to the 17th century). And it was there, in the Promised Land of music, that Handel became acquainted with the oratorio genre during his sojourn from 1706 to l7l0. He presented his first attempt on an oratorio in Rome in l708 - “La Resurrezione” (HWV 47). After this, however, his allention was fully occupied with opera. He returned to London, where audiences could enjoy one or sometimes even two new works a year from Handel’s pen at the Queen's Theatre in Haymarket.
Changing times, however, and in parlicular the social and cultural changes in England during the first decades of the l8th century, left their mark in the realm of music, too. John Gay made these changes the subject of his “Beggars Opera” of 1728: the monopoly on culture formerly held by the aristocracy fell increasingly into the hands of the bourgeoisie; the previous system of patronage of the arts was succeeded by commercialisation, and the layman with a wide range of interests began to replace the elitist connoisseur. Henceforth, the middle class demanded a say in the arts too, and expected art to be intelligible to the public at large, to offer clarity and simplicity in the spirit of the Enlightenment. Following the example of the golden age of lhe Renaissance, Handel’s contemporaries saw the era they lived in as the "silver age of the Renaissance". A parallel to the Rome of The Pax Augusta was deliberalely created: according to the way the l8th century Englishman saw his own time, social developments came about less through revolutionary upheaval than as a result of a lengthy but constant process of humanisation.
The Church of England gave its support to such ideas, which had their roots principally in the rationalism of the Enlightenment, and preached practical humanitarianism and patriotic conviction; thus the basic principles of Christian belief were equated with national ideals. And from this perspective, the English evolved feelings of affinity with the chosen people of the Old Testament and the Early Christians.
Thus Handel was able to rely on his audience's sympathetic approval in his choice of oratorio subjects, with which he affirmed this close connection between national and religious identity, in the final analysis. In fact, he could be all the more certain of the public’s acceptance, since, unlike opera with its Italian librettos, the oratorios set English texts that were easy to understand. And the soloists were not Italian opera singers as a rule, but English singers with firm roots in church music. If, however, they did come from Italy, like the contralto Gaetano Guadagni, later the “foremost singer of his time” (Burney) - Handel wrote the part of Didymus in his “Theodora” for him -, then they certainly brought experience in interpreting the Italian concertante style with them. This was one of the “ingredients” of Handel’s artistic ideal, which he developed from a truly cosmopolitan attitude. Handel blended all musical styles current at the time - the solemn pathos and also the dance character of Lully’s French suites, the polyphony of the Germans, and the native English choral tradition of the church anthems and the style of Henry Purcell - to form a highly individual synthesis that was to remain unique.
Handel was able to draw on a copious range of experience when composing his oratorios, “Theodora” among them. He managed to complete this large-scale work in an incredibly short time - from 28th June to 31st July 1749 - and the first pertormance took place on 16th March of the following year in the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden The ageing Handel regarded “Theodora” as his most important oratorio, according to the librettist Thomas Morell; the audience, however, was not equally forthcoming with praise, as in fact was the case with almost every other performance of a Handel oratorio given in the composer's lifetime. They appear to have found the lofty ideals of the text, which sings the praises of youth’s ability to love, of fidelity, courage and steadfastness, and exhorts the listener to tolerance, somewhat inaccessible.
Morell fashioned an oratorio text in three parts based on Robert Boyle’s novella “The Martyrdom of Theodora and of Didymus”, published in 1687. The historic background is the time of the persecution of the Christians in the last period of the Roman Empire, beginning with the reign of Diocletian (from 284 onwards) and ending with the fall of the Empire in 476. The city of Antioch in Syria, the place where the disciples were "recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled” (Apostles 14, xvi), was part of the Roman Empire at the time
Theodora, a "Christian woman of noble origin”, lives in Antioch, When Valens, the Roman governor of the city, orders the population to celebrate the name-day of the Emperor according to pagan tradition, Theodora refuses. The incensed Valens threatens her with prison and death, and will not listen to Didymus, a Roman officer who loves Theodora and has been converted to Christianity by her, when he begs him to show humanity and tolerance: “Ought we not to leave the free~born mind of man still ever free?” Theodora is cast into the dungeons, and Didymus then attempts to rescue her with the aid of his friend Septimius. They swap clothes, and he takes Theodora’s place in prison. But their ruse is discovered, and Didymus is sentenced to death. Theodora is thrown back into prison to await death together with her lover.
Handel's setting ot the Theodora story consists of 11 choruses, three duets and a considerable number of arias. As in nearly all of his works, he made use of both his own music and that of other composers (for 15 numbers) and made extensive cuts after the première, revising several numbers and adding new material. The result is a grandiose document of Handel’s old age, where the composer's ardour is subdued, his powers of dramatic expression audibly turned inwards. Handel speaks to us here as a mature man, aware of the transience of all earthly things - as for example in Theodora's C minor aria “Fond flatt’ring world, adieu!” The cry of farewell is symbolised melodically by a step of a second. The composer gave this aria the tempo marking "Larghetto", which is descriptive of both Theodora's personality, and the basic character of the whole oratorio. In fact, unlike in opera, the characters here do not actually undergo any development in the course of the action. Didymus, for instance, is given clealrly defined contours from the outset in the tender E flat aria “Sweet rose and lily, flow'rt form!", depicting his love for Theodora which he believes will overcome all obstacles. And in the same way, the cruel character of the governor Valens is portrayed unambiguously with the marking “Pomposa” and the dotted rhythm in the style of a French overture. The choruses of the pagans and the Christians provide a cleverly planned architectural framework for the whole work. While the pagans, taking up the melodic form and rhythmic structure of Valens's aria, mark the starting point of the drama in their first, D major chorus “And draw a blessing down...", in the G minor closing chorus the Christians declare the lesson to be learnt from the martyrdom of the two lovers; "Oh Love divine, thou source of fame..."
Nele Anders
Translation: Clive Williams

Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929-2016)
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