Stuart Jackson

Louise Alder, Tim Mead, Anna Stéphany, Stuart Jackson, Adam Plachetka, Arcangelo, Jonathan Cohen – Handel: Theodora, HWV 60 (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:58:27 minutes | 3,30 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alpha Classics

Among Handel’s seventeen English oratorios, Theodora (1750) is unique. The story is not taken from the Bible, but is about a Christian martyr. The characteristics of the oratorio are very negative: there is no national triumph and does not end in joy, hero and heroine are dying, the community with which the audience identifies is in mortal danger, and the final chorus is in a minor key. As a musical drama, this work can be seen as a direct ancestor of the “Dialogues des Carmélites”. At the age of 65, Handel created a work that was too radical and complex for most of his listeners at that time. Today, Theodora is regarded as a dramatic oratorio that is both deeply stimulating and powerfully moving as an “opera for the thinking person”.

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