Antonio Vivaldi, Orlando Furioso (1727)

Wikipedia says that Vivaldi "claimed to have composed 94 operas, but fewer than 50 titles have been identified, of which the scores of only 20 or so survive, wholly or in part." Of course, even if his claim is true, that doesn't likely mean that he composed ninety-four operas' worth of original music, given the tendency of baroque composers to self-cannibalize. Still, boy. Given how we see Vivaldi as such an important composer, it's kind of shocking when you first realize how much of his stuff is simply non-extant.

The question that I can't seem to find an anwer to is, okay, of these "twenty or so" operas that surive "wholly or in part," how many are either "wholly" or close enough to perform? It's very unclear to me. But I do know that Orlando Furioso is the only one that's still performed with any regularity. Whether that is justified of not...remains to be seen.

Yup! So we have all those Handel operas that tackle one part or another of Ariosto's poem, but here's one that claims to be based on the whole thing. Ambitous! Well, it's no surprise that it doesn't cover the whole dern poem--this isn't a twelve-hour operas--but it's interesting to see what it does. So we're on Alcina's island. You know, the Alcina section is not actually a huge part of the poem, but for some reason that we may never be able to fathom, people seem to have had a certain fascination with the section about the sexxxy, free-loving (but evil!) sorceress. Human nature doesn't change, no matter how far back we go.

Anyway, it's the usual thing with Ruggiero, Bradamante, and Astolfo, only this time Angelica and Medoro are on the island, being pursued by Orlando. Naturally, this creates a bit of a jumble, and I can easily imagine that if you were unfamiliar with the characters and the basic situation, it might be hard to follow. Obviously, there are huge divergences from the original text, even beyond what I just described. For one thing, Orlando--who would be furioso by this time, if this followed the original--isn't, and in fact for a little while Angelica pretends to be in love with him to avoid his wrath, which is here only provoked when she marries Medoro. Also, whereas in the poem his rage is seriously unmanageable--he basically charges around the countryside indiscriminately slaughtering all humans and animals he encounters--here it mainly just involves him babbling about mythological figures.

Still, whatever the case, all this is perfectly fun, and I only have one problem with the libretto: see, Alcina is still the villain in that she uses magic to steal Ruggiero from Bradamante, BUT, she also helps Angelica and Medoro: she saves Medoro's life with magic, she gets them out of a sticky situation with Orlando, and she even presides over their wedding. So YOU MIGHT THINK that at the end when she's lost her power and Astolfo's going to kill her, they might, I don't know, say something? A little quality of mercy around here? But NOPE! See ya in hell, Alcina! Leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, it does.

STILL! The main thing is, the music is glorious beyond reckoning. I wondered before I watched this: okay, I've seen a shit-ton of Handel operas, so will I be able to distinguish between the two composers' work? And, I'm sorry to say, the answer is, nope! Not hardly. If I didn't know and you told me this was another Handel opera, I'd accept it without a second thought. Checks out, is what I would say. But, you know, one of the best Handel operas, so who's complaining? I did probably think that the first act was the highlight, musically, and that it was slightly downhill from there, but that's still a very high level of quality.

Two countertenors here (Ruggiero and Medoro), so I've gotten my USDA. Orlando is a trouser role, but not, surprisingly, because it was originally for a castrato: in fact it was a contralto role, and GLORY BE, this production does indeed feature an actual factual contralto. I think the reason roles are rarely written for them and they're usually replaced by mezzos even when they are is that there just aren't that many of them out there. Too bad. It's a nice sound. As per custom, there's just the one token baritone here (Astolfo), but in spite of the palpable baroque lack of interest in low voices, even he has a few good-to-great arias. And MY GOD is this opera filled with great arias. THE HITS KEEP COMING. Everyone's good-to-great, but the obvious highlight is Lucia Cirillo, vamping it up like nobody's business and absolutely laying waste to the countryside with her devasting coloratura. Combine this with a spectacular-looking production, and you've got yerself a real treat. I will be happy to see more Vivaldi operas if at all possible, though after seeing this one, it's easy to imagine that it's the only one performed because it's obviously the best.

You don't have to subscribe to Medici to see this performance; it's also availableon blu-ray and DVD. But I'd like to give a shout-out to Medici: I was initially disappointed because although the description on the site clearly said that there were subtitles, there were no subtitles available. So I sent them a message, without a whole lot of hope, and within two days, bam, there were subtitles. On my request, they also added them almost instantaneously to their production of Britten's Death in Venice, which will be useful in the future. Of course, you might well ask: should you reallyhave to ask for them? Shouldn't they just have them if they say they have them? Still, I appreciate the responsiveness.