Created on March 16, 1750 at the Covent Garden Theater, the oratorio Theodora clearly surprised Londoners. In choosing his subject, did Handel not indeed make a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn? Gone are the grandiose episodes of the Old Testament, the glorious struggles of Solomon, Saul, or Judas Maccabaeus: the young martyr Theodora is not the leader of any community and does not lead troops into battle. Far from the grand biblical oratorios, it is to the poignant story of a personal drama that Handel invites us, a drama from the early days of Christianity fueled by the torments of conscience and faith.