Handel’s Theodora is probably performed more nowadays as a staged opera than as an oratorio.  The same is true for several of his other English language oratorios; notably Semele.  It was in that format I was introduced to Theodora by Peter Sellar’s famous production at Glyndebourne, which I loved, but I had never sat down and listened to the piece until getting my hands on a recent recording on the Alpha label.  Bottom line, I think it’s some of Handel’s best music.  Maybe the second part isn’t as inspired as the first and third  but it abounds in truly great airs and the libretto is really tight; dramatic and carefully constructed.

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