Handel’s Orlando was written during a time of the worst London cabals and opera intrigues. The golden age in which Handel moved rapidly from one success to another was drawing to a close when Orlando became Handel’s final premiere at the King’s Theatre on January 27, 1733. For his next opera projects, Handel, used to success, had to be content with the significantly more plain and far less prestigious Covent Garden opera house. The capricious audience immediately expressed its affection for the newly founded Opera of Nobility and its star castrato Farinelli. Nonetheless, Handel was determined to win back the audience’s favor and wanted to do so with new, innovative ideas.

The hero Orlando loses his mind due to unrequited love for Angelica, the queen of Catai. Angelica loves Medoro, who left the shepherdess Dorinda for her. However, it is Orlando’s friend, the magician Zoroastro, who runs the show. Freed from his lovesickness thanks to Zoroastro’s help, Orlando returns from love disappointed and goes back to battle and glory.

Orlando simultaneously represents the end of an era and an interesting new start in Handel’s oeuvre. The composer turned away from established artistic traditions, both dramatically and musically, by reducing the da capo arias, for instance, or breaking apart their strict form. Handel probably saw a key to a popular success in Ludovico Ariosto’s imaginative epic Orlando furioso, about the old Roland saga from the year 1516, yet during the next two years he reverted to tradition once again with Ariodante and Alcina.

Orlando—which can be classified as a “magic opera” (a popular genre at the time)—still exhibits all external characteristics of opera seria, yet the genre is ironically violated in a tongue-in-cheek manner. This is the case in Orlando’s famous mad scene, which points far into the future and reveals Handel once again as a great psychologist.

• Foundation for Opera and Concert

The Cast

The Venue

Venue Details

Theater an der Wien in the Vienna Chamber Opera