Orlando (opera)
The Italian libretto was adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's L'Orlando after Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, which was also the source of Handel's operas Alcina and Ariodante.
[1] A production staged by the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham, England, in 1966, conducted by Anthony Lewis, with Janet Baker in the title role, brought the opera back to London for the first time in over two centuries with performances later the same year at Sadler's Wells Theatre.
The United States premiere of the opera was presented by the Handel Society of New York (HSNY) in a concert version on 18 January 1971 at Carnegie Hall with Rosalind Elias in the title role.
[9] The role of Orlando, originally written for Senesino, the great alto castrato, is nowadays generally performed by a countertenor or a mezzo-soprano.
Orlando cannot accept this and he is driven to madness, prevented from causing absolute carnage only by the magician Zoroastro (who eventually restores his sanity).
On the summit of a mountain, at night - The wizard Zoroastro scans the heavens and sees signs in the stars that the warrior Orlando will once more turn to deeds of valour and recover from his passion for the princess of Cathay, Angelica.
Orlando is at first shamed by Zoroastro's words but then decides love and duty do not necessarily conflict, reflecting that Hercules was not robbed of his status as a hero by his affair with Queen Omphale, or Achilles by disguising himself for a time as a woman (Aria: Non fu già men forte Alcide).
In a grove with shepherds' huts - The shepherdess Dorinda reflects on the beauties of nature, which however do not fill her with tranquility as they used to, which she feels may be a sign that she is falling in love.
Zoroastro tells Angelica he knows that she is in love with Medoro and warns her that Orlando's jealousy when he discovers this will lead to unpredictable and possibly dangerous results.
When Angelica meets Orlando, she pretends to be jealous of his rescue of Princess Isabella, telling him he cannot expect her to love a man who may not be faithful to her (Aria: Se fedel vuoi ch’io ti creda).
In a forest - Dorinda, inconsolable over the loss of Medoro, listens to the melancholy song of the nightingale and finds it chimes with her mood (Arioso: Quando spieghi tuoi tormenti).
She shows him the bracelet she claims Medoro gave her and says she sees his face in every brook and flower (Aria: Se mi rivolgo al prato).
Dorinda will forget her sorrow and invites everyone to her cottage to celebrate (Chorus: Con un diverso ardor, gia che ciascun e pago).
A tremendous success, Rinaldo created a craze in London for Italian opera seria, a form focused overwhelmingly on solo arias for the star virtuoso singers.
[12][13] The Royal Academy of Music collapsed at the end of the 1728 - 29 season, partly due to the huge fees paid to the star singers.
[14][17] Orlando, an Italian opera with a starring role by Handel for Senesino, was originally scheduled to premiere on 23 January 1733 but an announcement was placed in the London press that the opening had been postponed until the 27th, "the principal performers being indisposed".
Scottish politician and lawyer Sir John Clerk, also a musical connoisseur and a composer himself, saw Orlando in its original run of eleven performances and wrote:I never in all my life heard a better piece of musick nor better perform’d – the famous Castrato, Senesino made the principal Actor the rest were all Italians who sung with very good grace and action, however, the Audience was very thin so that I believe they get not enough to pay the Instruments in the orchestra.
[20] Clerk notes the "thin" audience but the royal family attended almost every performance; after one the Queen suffered a slight accident as noted in the press:On Saturday Night last, as her Majesty was coming from the Opera House in the Hay-Market, the Fore Chairman had the Misfortune to slip, going down the step by Ozinda's Coffee-house near St. James's House, by which Accident the Chair fell, and broke the Glasses; but her Majesty happily got no Harm.
[11] The London press carried a notice on 2 June 1733:We are credibly inform’d that one Day last Week Mr. H–d–l, Director-General of the Opera-House, sent a Message to Signior Senesino, the famous Italian Singer, acquainting Him that He had no farther Occasion for his Service; and that Senesino reply’d the next Day by a Letter, containing a full Resignation of all his Parts in the Opera, which He had perform’d for many Years with great Applause.
Although he had in the great "mad scene" at the end of the second act nearly ten minutes with the stage to himself, the music offered him little opportunity for vocal ornamentation.
'(letter from Lady Irwin to Lord Carlisle on 31 March)[11]All this increased the hostility towards Handel's company and his audience began to look for alternative entertainment.
[21] Orlando shows a flexibility and diversity in its musical forms, moving away from the opera seria convention of one da capo aria after another.
