Antonio Caldara, in this recently rediscovered church opra, reaches a rare level of beauty and intensity. Beauty essentially due to the perfect blend and contrast between the various voices. The two alti and the two soprani are absolutely marvellous in their complementary values and hues, and they enhance the bass and the tenor in a unique way. Intensity due to the debate in Maddalena between carnal love and spiritual christian love. This debate is represented by the fight between the two alti, Amor Celeste and Amor Terreno, redoubled with the same debate between the two soprani, Maddalena and her sister Marta, and then amplified into a universal debate about the capabitily for women to repent, to amend and to be forgiven and saved. This debate is contained in the confrontation between the bass, the priest of the Temple, and the tenor, Christo himself representing the Church of Christ. This fascinating opera hence gets to a high level of modernity since the main question is that of the freedom and equality of women.