ARIOSTIANA -- D'Este --

Speranza

"L'Orlando furioso" è un poema cavalleresco di Ludovico Ariosto pubblicato nella sua edizione definitiva nel 1532 per il duca di Ferrara, della casa di d'Este.

Il poema, composto da 46 canti in ottave (38.736 versi in totale) ruota attorno ad Orlando, a cui è dedicato il titolo, e a Ruggiero d'Este.

L'"epos" d'Ariosto riprende la tradizione del ciclo carolingio e in parte del ciclo bretone e pone a continuazione dell'incompiuto "Orlando innamorato" di Matteo Maria Boiardo.

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L' "Orlando paladino" è un melodramma in tre atti di Haydn, rappresentato per la prima volta alla villa Esterhaza, Fertod, il 6 dicembre 1782.

Il libretto di Nunziato Porta è adattato da un precedente libretto di Carlo Francesco Badini, messo in musica da Pietro Guglielmi nel 1771.

La trama si basa sul poema epico "Orlando Furioso" di Ludovico Ariosto.

"Orlando" è descritto come "dramma eroicomico" dato che la trama mescola elementi eroici e comici.

Nella vita di Haydn l'"Orlando" fu il suo melodramma più popolare.

Nel 1932 avvenne la prima all'Opera di Lipsia come "Der Ritter Roland", nel 1980 a Birmingham e nel 1982 a Carpentras.

Personaggi:

ORLANDO, paladino ... tenore ... Antonio Specioli
PASQUALE, scudiero d'Orlando ... tenore ... Vincenzo Moratti
RODOMONTE, re di Barbaria ... Domenico Negri
LICONE, pastore ... tenore ...
CARONTE, traghettatore per l'oltretomba
MEDORO, soldato saraceno, innamorato d'Angelica ... tenore ... Prospero Braghetti.

Alcina, una maga
Angelica, Regina del Catai
Eurilla, pastorella

pastori, pastorelle, spettri, selvaggi e saraceni.

Portale Musica classica. Categorie: Opere liriche di Joseph Haydn, Opere liriche in lingua italiana, Opere basate sull'Orlando furioso, Opere liriche basate su opere letterarie

Like Vivaldi's "ORLANDO FURIOSO", Haydn is trying to be original.

Whereas all the melodrammi before Vivaldi based on ORLANDO focused on one of the main narrative threads:

I. The ORLANDO story, with ANGELICA loving MEDORO.

II. The RUGGIERO d'Este story, with la Bradamante saving him from Alcina's lust.

both Vivaldi and Haydn combine somewhat the two stories -- but Haydn simplifies the second narrative thread to a mere cameo of Alcina.

Haydn's ORLANDO, however, extends the message with the ideas of the Enlightment and permeates a powerful message of rational restraint.

The message may already be perceived in both Ariosto's epic and Vivaldi's melodrama.

Ariosto, Vivaldi, and Haydn introduce a recognisable tragic hero (slightly 'comical' in Haydn's case) and show how man, though responsible for his own acts and gifted with a will of his own, can become a victim of unfortunate circumstances and destiny, especially as he loses control of himself.

Only rational restraint can save one's life.

In the plot of Haydn's opera, the tragic character is 'reformed' at the end.

Not only does ALCINA bestow a new consciousness on Orlando, but he has completely forgotten Angelica (why fight for an unrequited love? that's hardly rational).

The rather smug moral of the Haydn's story is:

"If you want to be happy, don't love the one you love, but love the one who loves you. If you do that, nothing can go wrong."

The generic description, 'heroic-comical' occurs only rarely in melodramatic literature.

"Heroic-comical" was used when the heroic gave way to ridicule, when it is seen in perspective, when in fact it was 'carnavalised', especially in Venetian opera since the 17th century.

The literary exemplar were the tales from ORLANDO FURIOSO, one of the most influential heroic-comical works ever, and widely read, not only in Italy.

The epic by the Italian Renaissance poet Ludovico Ariosto, himself a noble 'paladino', originated as a continuation of the incomplete "ORLANDO INNAMORATO" by Matteo Maria Boiardo.

The background to both poetic works is the campaign of CARLO MAGNO against the Saracens, as recorded in the legends, the 'chanson de Roland' and the related tales of the knights of old.

The protagonist is ORLANDO who is held to be CARLO MAGNO's nephew.

The genealogy of the noble Italian family d'Este is a further important theme.

ARIOSTO, who was in the service of the Estes as diplomat and adviser, drew up a family tree for them, based on important figures in the epic and stretching back to the mythical ETTORE DI TROIA.

Both poems, by Boiardo and Ariosto, made ORLANDO famous far and wide.

GIUSEPPE HAYDN, too, was familiar with the subject-matter.

Even if HAYDN had not read ARIOSTO, he would undoubtedly have been familiar with some of the countless musical dramatic works concerning Ariosto's legendary mythical personae, originated from the whole of Europe as from the last quarter of the 17th century.

HAYDN tackled the subject matter more intensively when in 1782 in is capacity of the Court Music Master at the ESTERHAZY Castle, he is believed to have staged the dramma giocoso "La pazzie d'Orlando", a theatrical work by the Italian composer Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi, a highly opera composer in his time, whose 100 or so stage works were mounted throughout Europea.

GUGLIELMI's Orlando had it first performance in 1771 and was subsequently repeatedly revived, sometimes as ORLANDO PALADINO, sometimes as ORLANDO FURIOSO.

What's it about?

The princess ANGELICA is in lov with the warrior MEDORO.

Almost driven mad through jealousy, the knight ORLANDO stalks both until death.

Yet, with the help of the fairy Alcina's magic, ORLANDO recovers and the lovers are saved.

The new production of this melodramma at ESTERHAZY was evidently NOT to take place, since an important visit was unexpectedly announced, to be honoured with the performance of a work written by the court poet and newly composed by the court music master.

After all, prince Esterhazy wanted to present his "ESTERHAZY fairy kingdom" as magnificently as at all possible on such an occasion.

Hardly surprisingly, Hadyn's employer earned the nickname "The Splender Lover" through his holding of a sumptuous court.

HAYDN, at the time of Europe's greatest, was moreover already known to the expected guests: the Russian Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (The subsequent Tzar Paul I) and his spouse Maria Fjodorovna, who travelled throughout Europe in the early 1780s had already met him in 1781 when visiting Vienna.

Haydn had even given the Grand Duchess, by birth a Princess of Wuertemberg, a 'lecture on one of his compositions', and dedicated the printed edition of his string quartet opus 33, since then known as the Russian quartet, to the Grand Duchess.

In October 1782, the Grand Ducal couple wanted again to stop by in Vienna on their return journey and then also to come to ESTERHAZY.

Haydn began work on his 'new Italian opera', which was not however so 'new' to him, since he resorted to the same material and even the same libretto for the work that he had really intended to stage, as a basis for his own composition.

His librettist, the impresario NUNZIATO PORTA, should even have known Guglielmi's stage work somewhat better, having, after all, already previously repeatedly personally revised the libretto.

Now, he once again decisively recast the text.

The 'dramma eroicomico' "ORLANDO PALADINO" was finished by the due date, but the announced visit did NOT occur.

The Russian Grand Ducal couple had changed their itinerary and now did not get to ESTERHAZY at all.

The first performance was therefore fixed for Prince Nicholas's name day, December 6, 1782.

Is the fact that the work was a success attributable simply to the well-known subject matter?

Or was it not, rather, the special efforts of all concerned for such an important visit that brought forth a masterpiece?

Above all, the high musical quality was compelling.

ORLANDO PALADINO was the opera that was performed most frequently during Haydn's lifetime.

The work was even staged at St. Petersburg in 1813.

But the Russian tsar Paul I, who had followed his mother Catherine II on the throne in 1796, was not to live to see this performance of the opera that was originally designed for himself, he had already fallen to an assassin in 1801.

After Haydn's operas had fallen into oblivion and his skills in the area of musical drama had been simply discredited, a counter-movement has been evident for several decades, encouraged by the direction-pointing full recording of his works for the stage produced by ANTAL DORATI in the second half of the 1970s.

The staged productions mounted since then have also provided counter-proof in each case, that Haydn's operas are in factd of major dramatic and dramaturgical quality throughout, are musically situated at the highest level and today still -- or again -- prove their their genius through their musicality and sparkling wit.

The production in 2009 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Haydn's death is colourful, fresh and humorous and was one that added a new dimension to the stage works of Haydn.