Orlando Finto Pazzo

Orlando finto pazzo (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. The second of Vivaldi's known operas, Orlando finto pazzo premiered in November 1714 (dedication 10 November) 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 revival of Giovanni Alberto Ristori’s Orlando furioso, a work that the Vivaldi "impresa" had very successfully staged in 1713.

Read more about Orlando Finto Pazzo:  Roles, Recording