Vivaldi's 'Orlando Finto Pazzo' returns
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A scene from "Orlando Finto Pazzo" / Courtesy of Korea National Opera
By Yun Suh-young
The Korea National Opera (KNO) will have a busy season this year with operas staged back to back from April to June.
Only two weeks have passed since the KNO performed “Boris Godunov” late last month, but already a new opera is ready to greet audiences.
Antonio Vivaldi's "Orlando Finto Pazzo" will be performed from May 10, 12 through 14, at the LG Art Center in Seoul.
KNO chose to add the baroque opera to its repertoire last year, a move that audiences embraced with enthusiasm. The opera had never been staged in Korea, or elsewhere in Asia, and last year’s performance was a big success. Riding on that success, KNO decided to perform the work again this year, with most of the previous cast returning.
"An important trend in European opera since the late 20th century is to step aside from the well-known pieces of Verdi and Puccini and discover new baroque pieces that weren't showcased to the world," KNO artistic director Kim Hak-min said.
"Especially among the baroque pieces, Vivaldi's 'Orlando Finto Pazzo' was a piece that was rare to the point that it was difficult to find its score from 300 years ago. We are proud to be leading the discovery trend of baroque operas. We hope to stage it one day in its home country."
Based on an episode in Matteo Boiardo's epic poem "Orlando Innamorato," the piece was written by Grazio Braccioli and composed by Vivaldi. It premiered in 1714 at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice, Italy.
The story has a rather confusing plot, with a handful of characters to remember. The plot introduces eight characters, seven of whom are intertwined in love. The two main themes of the opera are sorcery and a human's heroic endeavor to untangle from it, and the complicated love stories of the seven characters.
"The plot revolves around Ersilla, queen and sorceress, and a variety of magical events, ranging from the golden tree whose branch must be broken and the magical songs that put Orlando to sleep, to the appearance of Angelica by magic,” Italian director Fabio Ceresa said in the director’s note. “But despite the variety of magic, the characters are all too human that the real guideline of the story becomes love.
"Love is more powerful than any magical spell and it is so powerful that it leads some to destruction and some to salvation. No other opera has as complex a love story as 'Orlando Finto Pazzo.' As if connected in a long chain, each character loves a person who does not reciprocate the love, but loves another. Origille loves Grifone, Grifone loves Tigrinda, Tigrinda loves Argillano, Argillano loves Ersilla, Ersilla loves Orlando and Orlando loves Angelica. The victory of the baroque literature is achieved by the only character outside of this love chain, the old sage Brandimarte."
Ticket prices range from 20,000 won to 120,000 won. For more information, visit www.lgart.com or call (02) 580-3540.