ORLANDIANA -- Vivaldiana

Speranza

It is striking that all these operas written before or around the same time as Vivaldi's ORLANDO FURIOSO chose either the

ORLANDO-ANGELICA-MEDORO

story, or the

ALCINA-RUGGERO-BRADAMANTE

story.

It was Vivaldi's librettist, BRACCIOLI, who combined the two strands and in fact came closer to the original labyrinthine structure of Ariosto's epic poem.

In doing so, BRACCIOLI introduced a confrontation between two extrememely constrasted characters: ORLANDO and ALCINA.

ORLANDO stands for total dedication and unswerving fidelity to one single beloved.

ALCINA stands for utter sexual freedom, erotic hedonism, and adultery.

It seems to be Tristano versus a female DON GIOVANNI.

An intriguing combination.