Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen: Handel's Theodora

Theodora was once considered second-rate, but, with its dramatic story of religious persecution, which inspired from Handel some of his most moving music, it bears comparison with the Passions of JS Bach.

Handel once reportedly observed that what the English liked was something that ‘hit them on the drum of the ear’. The ‘victory’ oratorios prompted by Butcher Cumberland’s crushing of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion – Judas Maccabaeus, The Occasional Oratorio and Joshua – had meshed perfectly with the bellicose national mood. But the oratorios that followed, Solomon, Susanna and Theodora, all far richer works, proved much less popular. The last of these, Handel’s sole religious drama set in Christian times, was the biggest flop of all, surviving for a mere three performances at Covent Garden in the 1750 Lenten season and revived just once in 1755.

According to the (admittedly biased) memoirs of the librettist, the Revd Thomas Morell, Handel valued Theodora ‘more than any Performance of the kind’, placing the chorus ‘He saw the lovely youth’ far beyond the Hallelujah Chorus in Messiah. And he wryly observed of the oratorio’s failure at the box-office: ‘The Jews will not come to it … because it is a Christian story; and the Ladies will not come because it [is] a virtuous one.’

There may be a grain of truth in Handel’s reported witticism, at least as regards Jewish audiences, hitherto a vital component of his oratorio attendees. But the crucial reason behind public indifference to Theodora was surely its reflective inwardness, rising in Parts 2 and 3 to spiritual sublimity. Of all the oratorios, none was less calculated to hit its listeners ‘on the drum of the ear’.

Thomas Morell’s immediate source for his libretto was Robert Boyle’s mawkish novella The Martyrdom of Theodora and of Didymus, set in Roman-occupied Antioch. Though no poet, Morell at least made a coherent narrative from Boyle’s sententious ramblings.

As a Church of England vicar he was keen to emphasise the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives: the Roman soldier Didymus, in love with the Christian Theodora, has secretly converted to her religion; and at the end of the story, in a passage not set by Handel, the open-minded Roman officer Septimius likewise becomes a Christian.

Judged merely by the libretto, Theodora’s piety and suffering have something almost masochistic about them. But through the beauty and unsentimental tenderness of Handel’s music she becomes a poignant, vulnerably human figure. In the composer’s vision her martyrdom is both glorious and suffused with a sense of agonised loss. Theodora’s solos – most poignantly her prison air ‘With darkness deep’ – and two duets with Didymus give the oratorio its essential tragic tinta. Her one aria in the major key, the serene ‘Angels, ever bright and fair’, became a Victorian parlour favourite.

While Theodora dominates the oratorio, each of the other characters is drawn with an individuality that, again, goes far beyond Morell’s libretto. At the one extreme is the unbending Roman governor Valens, not a bloodthirsty monster but a man who does things by the book and is always in a hurry. His solos are marked by rapid tempos and terse, impatient phrases. Septimius, the ‘good’ Roman who becomes ever more sympathetic to the Christian cause, sings the most ornate and suavely lyrical music in the oratorio. The airs for Theodora’s lover Didymus, written for the castrato Gaetano Guadagni, have a gentle rapture that complements the more searching music for the heroine.

Didymus’s ethereal nature is epitomised by the exquisitely chaste ‘Sweet Rose and Lily’, sung over the sleeping Theodora, and the rarefied air that flowers into a duet just before the final martyrdom. This glowing spirituality also suffuses the magnificent airs Handel wrote for Theodora’s fellow-Christian and confidante Irene, a milk-and-water figure in the libretto who is transfigured by the warmth and strength of her music.

As in several of his earlier oratorios, Handel graphically characterises opposing cultures in the choruses. Typically, the Romans come across not as bloodthirsty sadists but as unabashed sensualists, singing in catchy dance rhythms and simple textures. The Christian choruses, gravely or radiantly contrapuntal, share the spirituality of Theodora’s music; and each of the three parts ends with a sublime choral climax. The beautiful contrapuntal duet between Didymus and Theodora near the end of Part 2 fuses human tragedy with a transfigured ecstasy. But Handel crowns even this duet with the chorus he valued above all others, ‘He saw the lovely youth’. Beginning as a dirge, this ends with a fugal movement of chastened joy depicting Christ’s raising of the widow’s dead son in St Luke’s Gospel.

The two final numbers form a true apotheosis: the duet that grows out of Didymus’s air, music of unearthly purity tinged with the ache of what might have been; and the chorus, ‘O Love divine’. Morell’s words here might have suggested an exultant ending. But Handel’s valedictory music, part-prayer, part-lullaby (reworked from an air in Hercules), leaves us in no doubt that he viewed the fate of Theodora and Didymus as essentially tragic. We know little about Handel’s personal faith. But it is hard to deny that this chorus conveys an intense religious experience, and that for once Handel and Bach – in so many ways musical antipodes – meet here on common ground.

Programme and performers

George Frideric Handel Theodora

Arcangelo
Jonathan Cohen conductor
Louise Alder Theodora
Tim Mead Didymus
Anna Stéphany Irene
Stuart Jackson Septimius
Adam Plachetka Valens

Libretto

Overture

Scene 1

Valens
Recitative
– ’Tis Dioclesian’s natal Day. –
Proclaim, throughout the Bounds of Antioch,
A Feast, & solemn Sacrifice to Jove. –
Whoso disdains to join the sacred Rites,
Shall feel our Wrath, in Chastisement, or
Death.
And This, Septimius, take you in Charge.

Air
Go, my faithful Soldier, go.
Let the fragrant Incense rise,
To Jove, great Ruler of the Skies:

Chorus of Heathens
And draw a Blessing down,
On his imperial Crown,
Who rules the World below.

Didymus
Recitative
Vouchsafe, dread Sir, a gracious Ear
To my Request. – Let not your Sentence doom
To Racks & Flames, all, all, whose Scrup’lous
Minds
Will not permit them, or, to bend the Knee
To Gods they know not, or, in wanton Mood,
To celebrate the Day with Roman Rites.

Valens
Recitative
Art Thou a Roman, & yet dar’st defend
A Sect, rebellious to the Gods & Rome?

Didymus
Recitative
Many there are in Antioch, who disdain
An Idol-Offering, yet are Friends to Caesar.

Valens
Recitative
It cannot be: They are not Caesar’s Friends,
Who own not Caesar’s Gods. I’ll hear no more.

Air
Racks, Gibbets, Sword, & Fire,
Shall speak my vengeful Ire,
Against the stubborn Knee.
Nor gushing Tears,
Nor ardent Pray’rs,
Shall shake our firm Decree.

Chorus of Heathens
For ever thus stands fix’d the Doom
Of Rebels to the Gods & Rome:
While sweeter than the Trumpet’s Sound,
Their Grones & Cries are heard around.

Scene 2

Didymus
Recitative
Most cruel Edict! Sure, thy gen’rous Soul,
Septimius, abhors the dreadful Task
Of Persecution. – Ought we not to leave
The Free-born Mind of Man, still ever free;
Since Vain is the Attempt to force Belief
With the severest Instruments of Death.

Air
The raptur’d Soul defies the Sword,
Secure of Virtue’s Claim:
And trusting Heav’n’s unerring Word,
Enjoys the circling Flame.

Septimius
Recitative
I know thy Virtues, & ask not thy Faith:
Enjoy it as you will, my Didymus. –
Tho’ not a Christian, (for I worship still
The Gods my Fathers worship’d) yet, I own,
Something within declares for Acts of Mercy.
But Antioch’s President must be obey’d;
Such is the Roman Discipline: While we
Can only pity, whom we dare not spare.

Air
Descend, kind Pity, heav’nly Guest,
Descend & fill each human Breast
With sympathising Woe.
That Liberty, & Peace of Mind,
May sweetly harmonise Mankind,
And bless the World below.

Scene 3
Theodora, with the Christians

Theodora
Recitative
Tho’ hard, my Friends, yet Wholesome are the
Truths
Taught in Affliction’s School; whence the pure
Soul
Rises refin’d, & soars above the World.

Air
Fond, flatt’ring World, adieu!
Thy gaily smiling Pow’r,
Empty Treasures,
Fleeting Pleasures,
Ne’er shall tempt, or charm me more.
Faith inviting,
Hope delighting,
Nobler Joys we now pursue.

Irene
Recitative
O bright Example of all Goodness!
How easy seems Affliction’s heavy Load,
While thus instructed, & companion’d thus,
As ’twere, with Heav’n conversing, we look
down
On the vain Pomp of proud Prosperity!

Air
Bane of Virtue, Nurse of Passions,
Soother of vile Inclinations,
Such is, Prosperity, thy Name.

Chorus of Christians
Come, mighty Father, mighty Lord,
With Love our Souls inspire:
While Grace, & Truth, flow from thy Word,
And feed the holy Fire.

Scene 4

Messenger
Recitative
– Fly, fly, my Brethren, heathen Rage
Pursues us swift, –
Arm’d with the Terrors of insulting Death.

Irene
Recitative
Ah! Whither should we fly? or fly from whom?
The Lord is still the same, to day, for ever;
And his Protection here, & ev’rywhere. –
Still shall thy Servants wait on thee, O Lord,
And in thy saving Mercy put their Trust.

Air
As with rosy Steps the Morn
Advancing, drives the Shades of Night;
So from virtuous Toils well-borne,
Raise Thou our Hopes of endless Light.
– Triumphant Saviour! Lord of Day!
Thou art the Life, the Light, the Way.

Chorus of Christians
All Pow’r in Heav’n above, on Earth beneath,
Belongs to Thee alone,
Thou everlasting One,
Mighty to save, in Perils, Storm, & Death.

Scene 5
Enter Septimius

Septimius
Recitative
Mistaken wretches! why thus blind to Fate,
Do ye in private Oratories dare
Rebel against the President’s Decree?

Theodora
Recitative
Deluded Mortal! Call it not Rebellion,
That thus we persevere in Spirit, & Truth,
To worship God: It is his dread Command,
His, whom we cannot, dare not, disobey,
Tho’ Death be our Reward. –

Septimius
Recitative
– Death is not yet thy Doom;
But worse than Death so such a virtuous Mind,
Which Didymus wants Eloquence to praise. –
Lady, these Guards are order’d to convey you,
To the vile Place, a Prostitute, to whom
Valens thinks proper to devote your charms.

Theodora
Recitative
O worse than Death indeed! Lead me, ye
Guards,
Lead me, or to the Rack, or to the Flames,
I’ll thank your gracious Mercy.

Air
Angels, ever bright, & fair,
Take, O take me to your Care:
Speed to your own Courts my Flight,
Clad in Robes of Virgin White.

Exit Theodora with Septimius

Scene 6
Enter Didymus

Didymus
Recitative
Unhappy happy Crew! – Why stand ye thus
Wild with Amazement? – Say, where is my
Love,
My Life, my Theodora?

Irene
Recitative
– Alas! she’s gone.
Too late thou cam’st to save,
the fairest, noblest, best of Women. –
A Roman Soldier led her, trembling, hence
To the vile Place, where Venus keeps her
Court.

Didymus
Air
Kind Heav’n, if Virtue be thy Care
With Courage fire me,
Or Art inspire me,
To free the captive Fair.
On the Wings of the Wind will I fly,
With this Princess to live, or this Christian to die.

Exit Didymus

Irene
Recitative
O Love! how great thy Pow’r! but greater still,
When Virtue prompts the steady Mind to
prove
The native Strength in Deeds of highest
Honour.

Chorus of Christians
Go, gen’rous, pious Youth,
May all the Pow’rs above
Reward thy virtuous Love,
Thy Constancy & Truth;
With Theodora’s Charms,
Free from these dire Alarms:
Or Crown you with the Blest,
In Glory, Peace, & Rest.

Scene 1

Valens
Recitative
Ye Men of Antioch, with solemn Pomp,
Renew the grateful sacrifice to Jove;
And while your Songs ascend the vaulted
Skies,
Pour on the smoking Altars Floods of Wine
In Honour of the smiling Deities,
Fair Flora, & the Cyprian Queen. –

Chorus of Heathens
Queen of Summer, Queen of Love,
And Thou, cloud-compelling Jove;
Grant a long, & happy Reign,
To great Caesar, King of Men.

Valens
Air
Wide spread his Name,
And make his Glory,
Of endless Fame
The lasting Story.

Recitative
Return, Septimius, to the stubborn Maid,
And learn her final Resolution.
If, ere the Sun with prone Career has reach’d
The Western Isles, she deigns an Offering
To the great Gods, she shall be free. – If not,
The meanest of my Guards with Lustful Joy
Shall triumph o’er her boasted Chastity.

Chorus of Heathens
Venus laughing from the Skies,
Will applaud her Votaries: –
When seizing the Treasure,
We revel in Pleasure,
& Revenge sweet Love supplies.

Scene 2
Theodora, in her Place of Confinement

Sinfonia

Theodora
Recitative
O thou bright Sun! how sweet thy Rays,
To Health, & Liberty! but here alas!
They swell the agonising Thought of Shame,
And pierce my Soul with Sorrows yet
unknown.

Air
With Darkness deep as is my Woe,
Hide me, ye Shades of Night.
Your thickest Veil around me throw,
Conceal’d from human Sight;
Or come, thou, Death, thy Victim save,
Kindly embosom’d in the Grave.

Symphony of Soft Musick

Recitative
But why art Thou disquieted, my Soul? –
Hark! Heav’n invites thee in sweet rapt’rous
Strains
To join the ever-singing, ever-loving Choir,
Of Saints, & Angels in the Courts above.

Air
O that I on Wings cou’d rise,
Swiftly sailing through the Skies,
As skims the silver Dove;
That I might rest,
For ever blest,
With Harmony & Love.

Interval

Scene 3

Didymus
Recitative
Long have I known thy friendly social Soul,
Septimius, when Side by Side we fought,
Dependent on each other’s Arm; with
Freedom then,
I will disclose my Mind. – I am a Christian.
And she, who by Heav’n’s influential Grace,
With pure religious Sentiments inspir’d
My Soul, with virtuous Love inflam’d my Heart:
Ev’n she, who, shame to all Humanity!
Is now condemn’d to public Lust. –

Septimius
Recitative
– No more;
The Shame reflects too much upon thy Friend,
The mean, tho’ duteous, Instrument of Pow’r;
Knowing her Virtues only, not thy Love.

Air
Tho’ the honours, that Venus & Flora receive
From the Romans, this Christian refuses to give:
Yet nor Venus, nor Flora delight in the Woe
That disfigures their fairest Resemblance
below.

Didymus
Recitative
O save her then, or give me Pow’r to save
By free Admission to th’imprison’d Maid.

Septimius
Recitative
My Guards, not less asham’d of their vile
Office,
Will second your Intent, & pleasure me.

Didymus
Recitative
I will reward them with a bounteous Heart,
And you, my Friend, with all that Heav’n can
give
To the Sincerity of Pray’r.

Scene 4
Irene with the Christians

Irene
Recitative
The Clouds begin to veil the Hemisphere,
And heavily bring on the Night; the Last
Perhaps to us, Oh! that it were the Last
To Theodora, ere she fall a Prey
To unexampled Lust & Cruelty.

Air
Defend her, Heav’n. – Let Angels spread
Their viewless Tents around her Bed;
Keep her from vile Assaults secure,
Still ever calm, & ever pure.

Scene 5
Theodora’s Place of Confinement

Didymus (at a distance, the Vizor of his Helmet clos’d)
Recitative
Or lull’d with Grief, or, rapt her Soul to Heav’n,
In Innocence of Thought, entranc’d she lies:
Her Beauty shining still, like Cynthia,
Rising in clouded Majesty.

(approaching her)

Air
Sweet Rose, & Lily, flow’ry Form,
Take me, your faithful Guard;
To shield you from bleak Wind, & Storm:
A Smile be my Reward.

Theodora (starting)
Recitative
O save me, Heav’n, in this my perilous Hour!

Didymus
Recitative
Start not, much injur’d Princess, – I come not
As one, this Place might give you Cause to
dread,
But your Deliverer,
And that dear Ornament to Theodora,
Her Angel-Purity. – If you vouchsafe
But to change Habit with your Didymus.

(discovering himself)

Theodora
Recitative
– Excellent Youth!
I know thy Courage, Virtue, & thy Love;
This becomes not Theodora,
But the blind Enemies of Truth. – Oh, no;
It must not be. – Yet Didymus can give
A Boon, will make me happy, nor himself
Endanger. –

Didymus
Recitative
– How? or What? my Soul with Transport
Listens to the Request. –

Theodora
Air
The Pilgrim’s Home, the sick Man’s Health,
The Captive’s Ransom, poor Man’s Wealth,
From thee I wou’d receive.
These, & a thousand Treasures more,
That gentle Death has now in store,
Thy Hand & Sword can give.

Didymus
Recitative
– Forbid it, Heav’n!
Shall I destroy the Life I came to save?
Shall I in Theodora’s Blood embrue
My guilty Hands; & give her Death, who taught
Me first to live?
– Or say, what Right have I
To take, what just Reflection bids confess
Not at your own Disposal? – Think it too
No less a Crime, if thus inflexible
Your Safety you refuse. – Time forbids more:
Strait then resolve to gain your Liberty,
Preserve your Honour, & secure your Life.

Theodora
Recitative
Ah! What is Liberty or Life to me,
That Didymus must purchase with his own?

Didymus
Recitative
Fear not for me. The Pow’r that led me hither
Will guard me hence; if not, his Will be done.

Theodora
Recitative
Yes, kind Deliverer, I will trust that Pow’r
To hear my Pray’rs for Thee:
Farewell, thou gen’rous Youth.

Didymus
Recitative
Farewell, thou Mirror of the Virgin State.

Duet
Theodora
To thee, Thou glorious Son of Worth,

Didymus
To thee, whose Virtues suit thy Birth,

Theodora
Be Life & Safety giv’n;

Didymus
Be every Blessing giv’n:

Both
I hope again to meet on Earth,
But sure shall meet in Heav’n.

Scene 6
Irene with the Christians

Irene
Recitative
’Tis night, but Night’s kind Blessing is deny’d
To Grief like ours. – How can we think of
Sleep,
While Theodora wakes to Misery;
And threat’ning Death hangs hovering o’er
our Heads!
Be Pray’r our Refuge; Pray’r to Him, who rais’d,
And still can raise, the Dead to Life & Joy.

Chorus of Christians
He saw the lovely Youth, Death’s early Prey,
Alas! too early snatch’d away!
He heard his Mother’s Funeral Cries:
Rise, Youth, he said: The Youth begins to rise:
Lowly the Matron bow’d, & bore away the Prize.

Scene 1
Irene with the Christians

Irene
Air
Lord to thee, each Night, & Day,
Strong in Hope, we sing & pray:
Tho’ convulsive rocks the Ground,
And thy Thunders roll around;
Still to thee, each Night & Day,
Strong in Hope, we sing & pray.

Scene 2
Enter Theodora, in the Habit of Didymus

Irene
Recitative
But see, the good, the virtuous Didymus!
Wakeful, as Philomel, with throbbing Heart,
He comes to join with us in pray’r
For Theodora. –

Theodora (discovering herself)
Recitative
No; Heav’n has heard your Pray’rs for
Theodora:
Behold her safe. – Oh! that as free, & safe,
Were Didymus, my kind Deliverer!
But let this Habit speak the rest.

Chorus of Christians and Theodora
Blest be the Hand, & blest the Pow’r,
That in that dark, & dangerous Hour,
Sav’d thee from cruel Strife.
Lord, favour still the kind Intent,
And bless thy gracious Instrument,
With Liberty, & Life.

Scene 3

Messenger
Recitative
Undaunted in the Court stands Didymus,
Virtuously proud of rescued Innocence;
But vain to save the generous Hero’s Life,
Are all Intreaties, ev’n from Romans vain. –
And high-enrag’d the President protests,
Shou’d he regain the Fugitive, no more
To try her with the Fear of Infamy,
But with the Terrors of a cruel Death. –

Irene
Recitative
Ah! Theodora, whence this sudden Change
From Grief’s pale Looks, to Looks of red’ning
Joy?

Theodora
Accompanied Recitative
– O my Irene, Heav’n is kind;
And Valens too is kind, to give me Pow’r
To execute in turn my Gratitude,
While safe my Honour.

Recitative
– Stay me not, dear Friend,
Only assist me, with a proper Dress,
That I may ransom the too generous Youth.

Duet
Irene
Whither, Princess, do you fly,
Sure to suffer, sure to die?

Theodora
No, no, Irene, no;
To Life, & Joy I go.

Irene
Vain Attempt. – O stay, O stay.

Theodora
Duty calls – I must obey.

(Exit Theodora)

Irene
Recitative
She’s gone, disdaining Liberty & Life,
And every Honour this frail Life can give.
Devotion bids aspire to nobler Things,
To boundless Love, & Joys ineffable.
And such her Expectation from kind Heav’n.

Air
New Scenes of Joy come crowding on,
While Sorrow fleets away;
Like Mists before the rising Sun,
That gives a glorious Day.

Scene 4

Valens (to Didymus)
Recitative
– Is it a Christian Virtue then,
To rescue from the Hands of Justice, One
Condemn’d by my Authority?

Didymus
Recitative
Such my Religion, it condemns all Crimes,
None more than Disobedience to just Pow’r.
& had your Sentence doom’d her but to
Death,
I then might have deplor’d your Cruelty,
And not attempted to defeat it. – Yet,
I own no Crime, unless it be a Crime
To’ve hinder’d you from perpetrating that,
Which wou’d have made you odious to
Mankind;
At least the fairest Half. –

Valens
Recitative
– Ay, ay, fond Man!
It was the Charms of Beauty, not of Virtue,
That prompted you to save her. – Take him
Hence,
And lead him to Repentance, or – to Death.

Scene 5
Enter Theodora

Theodora
Recitative
Be That my Doom. – You may inflict it here
With legal Justice, there ’tis Cruelty.
If Blood your angry Laws require; behold,
The Principal is come to pay the Debt.
And welcome sure to Romans the Exchange,
A warlike Hero for an helpless Maid.

Valens
Air
Cease, ye Slaves, your fruitless Pray’r;
The Pow’rs below
No Pity know,
For the Brave, or for the Fair:
Cease, ye Slaves, your fruitless Pray’r.

Didymus (to Septimius)
Recitative
– ’Tis kind, my Friends, but kinder still,
If for this Daughter of Antiochus, your Pray’rs
Prevail, that Didymus alone shall die. –

(to Theodora)

Had I as many Lives as Virtues Thou,
Freely for thee I would resign them all.

Theodora
Recitative
Oppose not, Didymus, my just Desire,
For know, that ’twas Dishonour I declin’d,
Not Death; most welcome now, if Didymus
Were safe, whose only Crime was my Escape.

Chorus of Heathens
How strange their Ends,
And yet how glorious;
Where each contends
To fall victorious!
Where Virtue its own Innocence denies,
& for the Vanquish’d the glad Victor dies!

Didymus (to Valens)
Recitative
On me your Frowns, your utmost Rage exert,
On me, your Prisoner in Chains. –

Theodora
Recitative
Those Chains
Are due to me, & Death to me alone.

Valens
Recitative
– Are ye then Judges for yourselves?
Not so our Laws are to be trifled with.
If Both plead guilty, ’tis but Equity,
That Both should suffer. –

Air
Ye Ministers of Justice, lead them hence,
I cannot, will not, bear such Insolence.
And as our Gods they honour, or despise,
Fall they their Supplicants, – or Sacrifice.

Exit Valens

Scene 6

Didymus
Recitative
– And must such Beauty suffer!

Theodora
Recitative
– Such useful Valour be destroy’d!

Septimius
Recitative
– Destroy’d,
Alas! by an unhappy Constancy!

Didymus
Recitative
Yet deem us not unhappy, gentle Friend,
Nor rash; for Life we neither hate nor scorn;
But think it a cheap Purchase for the Prize,
Reserv’d in Heav’n for Purity & Faith.

Air
Streams of Pleasure ever flowing,
Fruits ambrosial ever growing,
Golden Thrones,
Starry Crowns,
Are the Triumphs of the Blest.
When from Life’s dull Labours free,
Clad with Immortality,
They enjoy a lasting Rest.

Theodora and Didymus
Duet
Thither let our Hearts aspire.
Objects pure of pure Desire,
Still encreasing,
Ever pleasing,
Wake the Song, & tune the Lyre,
Of the blissful holy Choir.

Scene 7
Irene with the Christians

Irene
Recitative
Ere This their Doom is past, & they are gone
To prove, that Love is stronger far than Death.

Chorus of Christians
O Love divine, thou Source of Fame,
Of Glory, & all Joy;
Let equal Fire our Souls inflame,
& equal Zeal employ:
That we the glorious Spring may know,
Whose Streams appear’d so bright below.

Libretto by Thomas Morell (1703–84)

Artist biographies

Arcangelo is an award-winning , internationally acclaimed period-performance ensemble led by its founder and artistic director Jonathan Cohen. Its ethos is ruled by a determination to apply the deep listening skills and artistry of chamber music making to every piece in its repertoire. This has resulted in widespread acclaim and invitations to leading international venues and festivals.

Arcangelo was the first ‘Baroque Ensemble in Residence’ at Wigmore Hall, with which it maintains a close artistic relationship. Its three appearances at the BBC Proms include the Proms premiere of Theodora and a televised performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. In the past three years, Arcangelo has appeared at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Liszt Academy in Budapest, Ghent’s De Bijloke, Bilbao’s Musika-Música Festival, Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern and Musis Arnhem, as well as a second season residency at Wigmore Hall, and appeared with soloists including Avi Avital, Iestyn Davies, Barnabás Kelemen, Katharina Konradi, Tim Mead and Carolyn Sampson. Arcangelo has previously appeared at Carnegie Hall, Snape Maltings, MA Festival Brugge, Dresden Arts Festival, Zurich Tonhalle and Cologne Philharmonie.

Arcangelo has released 28 recordings to date, most recently Tim Mead’s solo recital, Sacroprofano, (Alpha). Other highlights include Buxtehude’s Trio Sonatas, Op 1 (Alpha), nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award; two Gramophone Award-winning albums with Iestyn Davies (Hyperion); a BBC Music Magazine Award-winning survey of CPE Bach cello concertos with Nicolas Altstaedt; a 2021 recording of Handel’s Brockes Passion (Alpha), named Album of the Week by BBC Radio 3’s Record Review and The Sunday Times; and Tiranno, a multiply-nominated concept recording with mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey.

In 2020 Arcangelo launched its New Ensemblists programme to develop the next generation of ensemble musicians specialising in period performance. The scheme provides a two-year programme of bespoke training and opportunities to outstandingly promising young musicians. Arcangelo’s New Ensemblists 2022–4 are violinists Cristina Prats-Costa and Yaoré Talibart and cellist Madeleine Bouissou.

Jonathan Cohen has forged a remarkable career as a conductor, cellist and keyboard player. He is well known for his passion and commitment to chamber music and is equally at home in such diverse activities as Baroque opera and symphonic repertoire. He is Artistic Director of Arcangelo, Music Director of Les Violons du Roy, Artistic Director of Tetbury Festival and Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. From next season he becomes Artistic Director of the Handel and Haydn Society.

Highlights of this season include returns to the USA to conduct the Handel and Haydn Society and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, while projects with Les Violons du Roy include Handel’s Alcina and programmes with Carolyn Sampson and Philippe Jaroussky. He conducts the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Real Filharmonía de Galicia and Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, as well as projects with Arcangelo including tonight’s performance of Theodora.

He founded Arcangelo in 2010, with the aim of performing high quality and specially created projects. He has toured with the ensemble to exceptional halls and festivals, including Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Cologne Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, Salzburg Festival and Carnegie Hall. They made their Proms debut at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in 2016 and returned to the Proms in 2018 (Theodora) and 2021 (St Matthew Passion).

He and Arcangelo are much in demand in the recording studio, partnering with leading soloists such as Iestyn Davies (their discs Arias for Guadagni and an album of Bach cantatas won Gramophone Awards in 2012 and 2017 respectively), Anna Prohaska and Christopher Purves for Hyperion Records. Their recording of CPE Bach cello concertos with Nicolas Altstaedt won a BBC Music Magazine Award in 2017 and their Buxtehude Trio Sonatas, Op 1 (on Alpha) was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2018. Recent recordings include Handel’s Brockes-Passion, Buxtehude Trio Sonatas, Op 2, Sacroprofano with Tim Mead and a further disc of Bach cantatas with Iestyn Davies.

Louise Alder studied at the Royal College of Music’s International Opera School, where she was the inaugural Kiri Te Kanawa Scholar. She won the Young Singer Award at the 2017 International Opera Awards and the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. She also won the 2015 inaugural Young British Soloists’ Competition, and is the recipient of Glyndebourne’s 2014 John Christie Award.

This season highlights include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) for the Bavarian State Opera and a return to the Glyndebourne Festival as Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress).

Recent successes have included roles such as Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Musetta (La bohème), Marzelline (Fidelio), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) and the title-roles in The Cunning Little Vixen and La Calisto for leading opera houses, including Zurich Opera, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, English National Opera and Teatro Real, Madrid.

On the concert platform her repertoire ranges from the Baroque to Mahler’s Symphonies Nos 2 and 4 and Strauss’s Four Last Songs, and she has worked with conductors such as Harry Bicket, Jonathan Cohen, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding, Jakub Hrůša, Vladimir Jurowski, Jonathan Nott, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle and Daniele Rustioni.

Song recitals form an important strand of her work and she has appeared at Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Wigmore Hall, BBC Proms, Graz Musikverein, Oper Frankfurt, Madrid’s Fundación Juan March and the Fundación Privada Victoria de los Ángeles in Barcelona, Birmingham’s Barber Institute, the Bath Mozart Festival, Snape Maltings, the Brighton and Oxford Lieder festivals and in Perth Concert Hall.

Her recordings include the recital discs Chère Nuit and The Russian Connection (both Chandos) and a disc of Strauss lieder with Joseph Middleton (Orchid Classics); and The Rape of Lucretia (Opus Arte) and Cesti’s L’Orontea (Oehms Classics).

Tim Mead is recognised as one of the finest countertenors singing today.

Highlights of this season include his return to Teatro Real, Madrid, for Ulisse (Corselli’s Achille in Sciro) and Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) for the Glyndebourne Festival. On the concert platform, he undertakes a European tour of Messiah with RIAS Kammerchor, sings Hamor (Jephtha) in Stuttgart, Handel’s Ode For The Birthday Of Queen Anne with Les Violons Du Roy and returns to the Wigmore Hall.

Recent operatic highlights include appearances at Garsington Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, English National Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Bergen National Opera, Opéra de Lille, Bavarian State Opera, Flanders Opera and the Bolshoi Theatre in repertoire ranging from Cavalli to Sir George Benjamin.

On the concert platform, highlights have included Messiah with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Wrocław Baroque Orchestra; Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Collegium Vocale Gent and St John Passion with Jonathan Cohen and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Jephtha and Pergolesi’s Stabat mater at the BBC Proms; the world premiere of Theo Loevendie’s The Rise of Spinoza at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw; appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall; and a tour of Asia with Harry Bicket and The English Concert. He has also worked with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, Le Concert d’Astree, Handel and Haydn Society, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gabrieli Consort and Academy of Ancient Music, among others.

The most recent additions to his substantial discography include Sacroprofano with Arcangelo, Purcell songs and dances with Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien (both Alpha) and Pergolesi’s Stabat mater and Bach cantatas with La Nuova Musica (Harmonia Mundi).

Tim Mead read Music as a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, before continuing his vocal studies at the Royal College of Music.

Anglo-French mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she won the Gold Medal, and the National Opera Studio. She represented England at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and is a Kathleen Ferrier Award winner.

This season she takes the role of Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro) for her debut at the Dresden Semperoper, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; sings Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) in a semi-staged performance with Opéra de Rouen; Messiah with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Gabrieli Consort & Players.

She was a member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera (2012–15), singing repertoire from Monteverdi to Offenbach. Her close relationship with the house has continued with Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), Purcell’s King Arthur, Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) and Charlotte (Werther).

She is particularly acclaimed as Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), which she has sung at the Bolshoi Theatre, for Royal Swedish Opera, the Royal Opera and Zurich Opera. Most recently, she has made her debut at the Opéra National de Paris as Le Prince Charmant (Cendrillon); sung Idamante (Idomeneo) at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, a role she has also sung at Zurich Opera, as well as Hansel (Hansel and Gretel); Dorabella (Così fan tutte) at the Bavarian State Opera and Sesto (Giulio Cesare) at Glyndebourne.

On the concert platform she has appeared with leading orchestras and conductors in works including Beethoven’s Symphony No 9, Rossini’s Stabat mater, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, Mozart’s Requiem, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Debussy’s La damoiselle élue and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges.

Last season she joined the Paris Chamber Orchestra for Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin for Debussy’s Le martyre de Saint Sébastien and Orchestra XXI for Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette. She also gave recitals at the Lammermuir Festival and in Zurich with Sholto Kynoch.

Her debut solo recording, Black is the Colour, was released in 2018 on Alpha. Other recordings include the title-role in Handel’s Serse with Christian Curnyn for Hyperion, and DVDs of Zurich Opera’s Werther and Glyndebourne’s La clemenza di Tito.

Stuart Jackson was a choral scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, reading Biological Sciences, before completing his training at the Royal Academy of Music in 2013, where he studied with Ryland Davies. He won prizes at both the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition and at the International Hugo Wolf Lied Competition in Stuttgart and has since given recitals for the BBC, at Wigmore Hall, the Oxford Lieder Festival and at the Albertina Musiksaal in Vienna.

Current and future engagements include Jupiter (Semele) for Opéra de Lille with Emmanuelle Haïm, Komische Oper Berlin and Glyndebourne; a revival of a new production from the Aix-en-Provence Festival of L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Palais de Versailles; Britten’s War Requiem with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Thomas Søndergård; and Mozart’s Requiem with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as Alcina with Les Violons du Roy and Jonathan Cohen and concerts and a recording of Theodora with Arcangelo. As a recitalist he makes his debut at the Hohenems Schubertiade in Austria and returns to the Wigmore Hall and Oxford Lieder Festival.

Recent highlights include his first Evangelist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen at the 2021 BBC Proms and, in the same year, Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto with the Royal Danish Opera; Prologue and Quint (The Turn of the Screw) for Opéra National de Lorraine. He has also sung Handel with The English Concert under Harry Bicket and Bach with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Trevor Pinnock.

Other past highlights include Mendelssohn’s Second Symphony with the Royal Northern Sinfonia; Martin’s Le vin herbé with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra; and Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He sang Narraboth (Salome) for his debut at English National Opera; and High Priest/Abner/Amalekite/Doeg (Saul) for both Glyndebourne Festival and the Châtelêt, Paris.

Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka was born in Prague,and studied at the city’s conservatory. He won First Prize at the Antonín Dvořák International Vocal Competition and became a member of the ensemble at the Vienna State Opera in 2010, where he sang in repertoire ranging from Mozart to Verdi.

His engagements this season include Count Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro) with Houston Grand Opera, Balstrode (Peter Grimes) and Leporello (Don Giovanni) at the Metropolitan Opera, and a recital at Wigmore Hall.

Opera highlights of recent seasons include Leporello, Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Masetto (Don Giovanni), the title-role and Count (The Marriage of Figaro) and Garibaldo (Rodelinda) at the Metropolitan Opera; Alidoro (La Cenerentola) at the Paris Opera; Figaro (The Barber of Seville) and Papageno (The Magic Flute) at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Papageno at the Salzburg Festival; and Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore), Don Giovanni, Riccardo (I puritanti), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Mustafà (L’italiana in Algeri) and Count at the Vienna State Opera.

In 2005 he made his debut at the National Theatre in Prague and has since returned many times; he has also appeared at the Prague State Opera. At the Salzburg Festival he has sng in Benvenuto Cellini, Rusalka, The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.

In concert, he has worked with many eminent conductors, including Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Jakub Hrůša, Louis Langrée, Marc Minkowski, John Nelson, Yannick Nézet- Séguin, Robin Ticciati, Michael Tilson Thomas and Franz Welser-Möst. His repertoire includes Mozart’s Requiem Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and Bach’s Mass in B minor. As a recitalist he has made many appearances in Vienna, Prague, Graz and London.

His discography includes an album of Handel’s oratorio arias with Czech Ensemble Baroque, Dvořák songs and live recordings from the Baden-Baden Festival of La clemenza di Tito and Così fan tutte under Yannick Nézét-Séguin.

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Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen: Handel's Theodora

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Arcangelo

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Louise Alder

Tim Mead

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Stuart Jackson

Adam Plachetka

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Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen: Handel's Theodora

Details

Programme and performers

Programme and performers

Libretto

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Artist biographies

Arcangelo

Jonathan Cohen

Louise Alder

Tim Mead

Anna Stéphany

Stuart Jackson

Adam Plachetka

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