[The libretto for Handel's Ariodante was crafted by an anonymous poet from Antonio Salvi's Ginevra, principessa de Scozia which was based upon the great Italian epic, Orlando Furioso. The following article outlines the scope of this great poem by Ariosto. - NMR]
"Le donne, i cavalier, l'arme, gli amori , le cortesie, l'audace impreso io canto." ("I sing of knights and ladies, of love and arms, of chivalry, of courageous deeds.")
So begins Lodovico Ariosto's epic poem Orlando furioso (Orlando Maddened), one of the great masterpieces of Italian Renaissance literature and the source for many operas, including Handel's Ariodante.
The root of the Orlando (Roland) story is historical. In 778, the Emperor Charlemagne led an expedition against the Saracens in Spain, conquering several cities there before recrossing the Pyrenees on his way back to France. Most of his army got through the pass of Roncesvalles successfully, but the rear guard was ambushed and annihilated. One of those slain was a certain Roland. That much is history. The story of Roland and his defeat became the stuff of many legends which were recorded at the end of the eleventh-century Old French epic La Chanson de Roland. In it Roland is the governor of the March (Frontier) of Breton and the nephew of Charlemagne. The battle described in the Chanson is fiction.
The stories spread throughout Europe, becoming more and more embellished. Roland became the perfect knight, totally loyal to his sovereign. His story became intertwined with the legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. At the same time it became a subject for puppet shows, traveling actors and troubadours. At the end of the fifteenth century, Matteo Maria Boiardo wrote his Orlando innamorato (Orlando in Love), which remained unfinished at his death in1494. It tells of the beautiful Angelica who comes to Charlemagne's court with her brother. Orlando and Rinaldo both fall in love with her, and most of the poem deals with their adventures in pursuit of her. Other characters are woven in, including Bradamante, Rinaldo's sister who is in love with Ruggiero, a descendent not only of Alexander the Great, but also of the Hector of the Iliad. It is prophesied that they shall found the Este family, one of the greatest in Renaissance Italy and the patrons of both Boiardo and Ariosto. Boiardo wrote in a provincial Italian which did not find a wide audience.
A few years later, Ariosto wrote Orlando furioso in the language of Florence, the model for modern Italian. His epic is longer that the Iliad and the Odyssey combined and, along with Dante, Ariosto is one of the most quoted of all Italian poets. Orlando furioso continues the tale of these characters. Orlando goes mad because Angelica does not return his love. Despite its name, Ariosto's poem is more about the trials of Bradamante and Ruggiero. (We first meet Bradamante in disguise as a knight who has many adventures before she is discovered.) Along the way we meet many other characters: knights and their ladies, sorcerers and witches, Christians and pagans, and we learn their stories. The story of Ariodante and Guinevere is told in a few pages. It starts as the hosts gather at the foot of the Pyrenees to begin their expedition against Spain. When the French army suffers defeat, Charlemagne sends Rinaldo to Britain for reinforcements. He is blown ashore in Scotland, a land known for Arthur and his knights of the Round table, including Lancelot, Tristan, and Galahad, whose exploits are still remembered. (The geography in Orlando furioso is rather strange. Shakespeare's Forest of Arden is in France!). Rinaldo rides off through the forest and comes upon an abbey where he is told of the plight of Guinevere, the daughter of the Scottish king. A certain Lurcanio has accused her of receiving a lover in the dead of night. According to Scottish law, such an accusation will lead to her death unless, within a month, a knight comes forth to defend her in trial by combat with her accuser. The king has proclaimed that any man who defended his daughter would win her as a wife. The monks urge Rinaldo to be the knight that defends Guinevere, and he agrees. In his opinion, the only fault of the princess is that she did not manage to conceal her secret. The law is a bad law, and he will see it is overthrown.
As Rinaldo, accompanied by a squire and riding his steed, Bayard, travels through the forest, they hear the cries of a damsel in distress. Two men are trying to kill her, but they flee when they see the knight coming to her rescue. She then tells her story.
Her name is Dalinda, and she was in the service of the king's daughter when she began an affair with Polynex, the Duke of Albany. She received him by dropping a rope ladder from the balcony of the princess, up which he could climb for their rendezvous. The princess often slept in another room, and they used her bed. Their affair had been going on for several months when Polynex confessed to Dalinda that he was in love with Guinevere and asked her help to win the princess. Dalinda was willing to do anything which might gain the Duke's favor. However, Guinevere was in love with a foreign knight, Ariodant, who had come to Scotland with his younger brother Lurcanio. He was more skilled than all the knights of Britain and a favorite of the king. Since he and Guinevere were madly in love, Dalinda's pleas to the princess on behalf of Polynex were in vain and, in her blind love, she agreed to his iniquitous plan. She would dress in the princess's gown as she admitted him to Guinevere's chamber.
Polynex confronted Ariodant telling him he was wrong in believing Guinevere loved him. He would prove that he, Polynex, was not only her true love, but also the recipient of his favors. If he would watch from hiding Ariodant could see for himself. To make sure he was not being lured into a trap, Ariodant brought his brother, Lurcanio, with him. There they saw what they were expected to — Dalinda disguised as Guinevere receiving Polynex with open arms. Ariodant was so distraught he tried to kill himself then and there but was prevented by Lurcanio. The next morning he disappeared and, a week later, word was brought that he had thrown himself into the sea and drowned. A sorrowing Lurcanio then went to the king and told him how they had seen 'Guinevere' with Polynex. The king does not believe his daughter is guilty, but he has no choice; if no knight comes forth to defend her by fighting Lurcanio, she must die. The evil Polynex advised Dalinda to go into hiding to prevent her being questioned by the king and sent two men to assassinate.
Rinaldo resolves to defend the unjustly accused princess and travels to St. Andrew's, the capital of Scotland. There he learns that another, unknown, knight has arrived and, as Polynex watches and gloats over Guinevere's plight, has engaged in a fight with Lurcanio. Rinaldo asks the king to suspend the fight until he can tell his tale, then proceeds to relate Dalinda's story. He will prove the truth by fighting Polynex himself. Witnessed by the unknown knight, Rinaldo defeats Polynex, who confesses his wrongdoing before dying. When the stranger removes his helmet he is revealed to be Ariodant himself, who has survived his leap into the sea. Guinevere is freed, the lovers are reunited, and Ariodant is made the Duke of Albany. Rinaldo begs the king to forgive for Dalinda, and she leaves Scotland to become a nun in Denmark. Ariodant becomes a knight almost as brave and well-known as Rinaldo. Thus ends the story of Ariodant and Guinevere who, presumably, lived happily ever after.
The stories in Orlando furioso were the source for many operas. The first to use the story of Ariodant and Guinevere was Antonio Salvi, whose Ginevra, Principessa di Scozia, was set to music by Jacopo Antonio Perti (1661-1756). Simon Mayr, Donizetti's teacher, wrote Ginerva di Scozia, the last of roughly a dozen versions of the story. Oblique references are also made to the book in many operas. For example, in Mozart's Così fan tutte, the name Fiordiligi and the mention of the rarity of the phoenix, are both references to Orlando furioso which many of Mozart's contemporaries would have understood.
Ariosto started as a Latin poet but Orlando furioso was written in Italian. He said he would rather be one of the first writers in Tuscan (Italian) than barely the second among those who wrote in Latin. He learned French and Spanish and inserted several stories in those languages. Orlando stresses love more than war and makes fun of chivalric manners. It was written to amuse and is full of magic, strange beasts, and enchantments. Just occasionally it waxes on the philosophical. It was published three times in his lifetime, the definitive final edition in 1532; another version appeared in 1545 after his death. The first English translation in was in 1591, during the time of Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare, and may have influenced the play Much Ado About Nothing.