The Operas

Abstract

This was Haydn's most famous opera during his lifetime, with 30 performances in Esterhaza in the first two years after its composition, and it was widely produced in most of Austria and Germany, as well. It was originally composed to celebrate the visit of a Russian Grand Duke to the Esterhaza court, but when that visit was canceled, was instead premiered for Prince Esterhazy's name day. The libretto, a "drama eroicomico," gives scope to Haydn's frequently puckish sense of humor as well as for his inventive melodic expression. Most semi-serious operas of the period typically inserted comic characters into an essentially serious story (e.g. Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera), but Haydn expanded the comedy even into the more serious scenes, scenes that previous composers (Handel, for example) had taken more seriously. Rodomonte's music even rather suggests a parody of Handel in its blustering, with some resemblance to Harapha in Samson.

When the crazed Orlando pursues the utterly indifferent Angelica, there is a certain comic element in his single-minded pursuit, and also to the rather limp and ineffectual character of Medoro, the lover whose affections she does return. The servant, Pas quale, is not only a contrast to his heroic and insane master, Orlando, but has some of the score's richest music, as he boasts of his travels and of his own valor. Haydn gives these scenes a mock-martial scoring, heavy on the brass, that is as engaging as it is humorous. His love-scene with Eurilla, too, is so well-crafted that the way he can only respond to her in monosyllables comes off perfectly naturally, rather than a forced gimmick.

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