Les Editions Buissonnieres Vivaldi A. - Orlando Furioso - Chant-piano

Summary of This Score

Vivaldi's operatic work remains paradoxically little known, even though the composer devoted most of his career to opera. In this context, Orlando furioso holds a central place: premiered in Venice at the Teatro S. Angelo in autumn 1727, it lies midway through Vivaldi's operatic trajectory (between Ottone in villa, 1713, and L'Oracolo in Messenia, his final project which remained unperformed).

Driven by the work of librettist Grazio Braccioli, who preserves the poetic and humanist essence of Ariosto, the opera transcends the conventional dramma per musica framework. Vivaldi explores varied musical forms, redistributes the hierarchy of characters, and layers dramatic actions with remarkable effectiveness. Nearly three centuries after its premiere, the musical and theatrical richness of the score continues to impress, both through its inventiveness and the diversity of moods and situations.

The reconstruction required in-depth work on the manuscript preserved in Turin, known to be particularly complex: carefully calligraphed folios sit alongside more hastily notated pages, with insertions, fragments, deletions, and irregular scene numbering. In this context, this keyboard version created by Jacques Manet meets a strong demand from the vocal world: it makes the opera accessible to a wide audience in its complete version, as conceived in 1727, providing a reliable working basis for rehearsals, study of recitatives, and musical preparation.

Technical specifications

Musical Genre

Opera

Composer	Antonio Vivaldi	Genre	Lyric score (opera)
Arranger	Jacques Manet	Pages	286
Instrumentation	Vocal and keyboard reduction