| Orlando finto pazzo | |
|---|---|
| Dramma per musica by Antonio Vivaldi | |
 Probable portrait of Antonio Vivaldi, c. 1723 | |
| Librettist | Grazio Braccioli |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | Episode from Orlando Innamorato |
| Premiere | November 1714 Teatro Sant'Angelo, Venice |
Orlando finto pazzo (Italian pronunciation: [orˈlando ˈfinto ˈpattso]; Orlando, the Fake Madman) is an opera (dramma per musica) in three acts composed by Antonio Vivaldi to a libretto by Grazio Braccioli. The plot is based on an episode in Matteo Boiardo's unfinished epic poem Orlando Innamorato ([orˈlando innamoˈraːto]).[1] The second of Vivaldi's known operas, Orlando finto pazzo premiered in November 1714 (dedication 10 November)[2] at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice. Vivaldi acted as impresario (in partnership with his father Giovanni Battista) as well as composer. Apparently the opera did not meet much approval from the audience and was billed only on few dates, just to be replaced, on 1 December, by a reworking of Giovanni Alberto Ristori's Orlando furioso ([orˈlando fuˈrjoːso; -oːzo]), an opera that the Vivaldi "impresa" had very successfully staged in 1713.[3]
Orlando finto pazzo is listed as RV 727 in the Vivaldi catalogue.
- ^ Scott R Levin, M. D. (2012-01-01). "Vivaldi's and Braccioli's Adaptation of Boiardo's Orlando innamorato: Orlando finto pazzo". Columbia University.
- ^ Strohm, I, p. 142
- ^ A good deal of the music of Orlando finto pazzo (as well as further music by Vivaldi) was interpolated into the revived work, so that it should be considered a fully-fledged new opera by Vivaldi (Strohm, I, p. 122).