Handel: To thee, thou glorious son of worth (HWV 68)

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Stereo: http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=vCWSZZrqUdY&fmt=18

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759).

Theodora (HWV 68):

Theodora:

To thee, thou glorious son of worth,
Be life and safety giv'n.

Didymus:

To thee, whose virtues suit thy birth,
Be every blessing giv'n.

Both:

I hope again to meet on earth,
But sure shall meet in Heav'n.

Thanks to tlrox.

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Theodora (Dawn Upshaw).
Didymus (David Daniels).
Valens (Richard Croft).
Septimius (Richard Croft).
Irene (Lorraine Hunt).

Dir: William Christie.

Theodora (HWV 68):

Handel wrote Theodora during his last period of composition, his Indian summer. 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 second-to-last oratorio.

Theodora differs from the former two oratorios because it is a tragedy, ending in the death of the heroine and her converted lover. The music is much more direct than the earlier works, transcending the mediocrity of the libretto (which was true for several of Handel's works) so that the characters and the drama are well-defined.

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, the scientist. He also borrowed from Corneille's Théodore, Vierge et Martyre. Morell arguably improved on Boyle, eliminating the moralising messages and creating a better structure.

Keywords: 68, Age, Christie, Daniels, David, Dawn, Enlightenment, Handel, HWV, of, Orchestra, the, Theodora, Upshaw, William