Theodora (HWV 68) is a dramatic oratorio (first performed in 1750) in three acts by George Frideric Handel. Other than Messiah, it is his only oratorio to be based on a Christian subject. But where Messiah is triumphant and expansive, Theodora is tragic and intimate, dealing with religious devotion and human nobility on a highly personal level.
Theodora tells the story of Theodora and Didymus, Christian saints who were martyred in the early fourth century. A young noblewoman under the rule of the emperor Diocletian, Theodora refuses to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods. Didymus, a Roman soldier who has secretly converted to Christianity, risks his life to help her—and ultimately shares in her martyrdom. Librettist Thomas Morell based his story on an early novella (1687) by Robert Boyle, The Martyrdom of Theodora and of Didymus and also borrowed elements from an earlier tragic play on the same subject.
Theodora was not initially received well by the public, but it is now recognized as one of Handel’s greatest works.
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Earlier Event: June 4
G. F. Handel: HWV 252, "My song shall be alway"
Later Event: June 26
Piers Connor Kennedy: Declarations