About the work
Orlando furioso (RV 819) is a three-act opera Antonio Vivaldi composed in 1714 for the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice – a complete recomposition of a successful 'Orlando furioso' by Giovanni Alberto Ristori staged at the same house the previous year. The libretto by Grazio Braccioli is based on Ludovico Ariosto's narrative poem (1516). It should not be confused with Vivaldi's better-known opera of the same title from 1727 (RV 728).
Plot
The knight Orlando loves Angelica, who flees from him to the palace of the sorceress Alcina to be with her beloved Medoro. When Alcina fails to seduce Orlando and reveals the truth about Angelica to him, he descends into madness: in his delirium he mistakes a statue of Merlin for Angelica, kills its guardian Aronte, and in toppling the statue destroys Alcina's magic realm, before finally regaining his senses.
Cultural significance
Only part of the score survives; the entire third act is missing, and several arias survive incomplete or only in the bass part. The title role was written for a bass in 1714, whereas Vivaldi gave it to a contralto in the 1727 revision.