Ariosto, Lodovico (EN)

Ariosto Lodovico, *8 September 1474 Reggio (Emilia), †6 July 1533 Ferrara, the greatest Italian poet of his time. The son of a courtier, educated and raised in reverence for antiquity and chivalric traditions, he developed and worked within the patronage circle of the d’Este family as both a poet and a court official (serving Cardinal Ippolito, Duke Alfonso, and Duchess Isabella). He wrote Latin elegies, Italian sonnets, five comedies modelled on Plautus and Terence, and seven satires in the Horatian style.

He became famous as the author of the epic Orlando furioso (three revisions: 1516, 1521, 1532), a poem in 46 cantos, whose texts had a significant influence on the development of the madrigal in the 16th century, and whose storyline accompanied the history of opera in the 17th and 18th centuries. The work, begun around 1502, was intended to continue the story of Angelica and Orlando, popular characters from the poem Orlando innamorato (1486) by M. Boiardo of Ferrara, and – probably inspired by Isabella d’Este – to celebrate the mythical ancestors of her family (Bradamante and Ruggiero). A mixture of distorted heroic themes from the Carolingian circle (chansons de geste concerning the battles of Christian knights with the Saracens), the romantic aura of “courtly love” characteristic of the Breton lais (mi-parlés mi-chantés), situational patterns borrowed from ancient epics – this bizarre compilation constitutes the thematic material of both Orlandos, but taken second-hand, from popular Italian-Provençal literature and oral tradition – representing the full decadence of this medieval cultural formation: “the heroic rhapsody about the struggle between worlds of different races and faiths is transformed into an adventurous tale, which a street singer entertains the sceptical Florentine townspeople with a knowing smile” (M. Brahmer, transl. N.D.). Ariosto composed his monumental poem “about Orlando, who went mad with love” according to Renaissance aesthetics, already on the threshold of Mannerism, anti-Aristotelian (variety at the expense of unity; arabesque capriciousness of polyphonic narrative flow, with interruptions, suspensions and delays in the action of individual voices and storylines, with moments of “wonder” – meraviglie, constantly surprising the listener), presenting his variation on the parody of chivalric times with the distance of subtle irony (the so-called Ariosto’s smile), though not without regret for a lost world. Orlando was published in about 100 editions in the 16th century (numerous translations, including Piotr Kochanowski’s Polish translation in the early 17th century); at the end of the century, it sparked the greatest aesthetic controversy of the era, dividing artists into ariostisti and tassisti (Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered was written in 1580, also in Ferrara).

Although the author’s imagination is clearly visual in nature, “the wonderful stream of his octaves bears it all forward” (J. Burckhardt); the work was written to be read aloud, and the octave (ottava rima, an 11-syllable verse with a feminine ending and an ab ab ab cc rhyme and intonation pattern), although passed down through literary tradition, was also (as a strambotto) the main format of the then fashionable and popular frottola. The custom of reciting and improvising Ariosto’s octaves according to specific melodic modes in 16th-century Italy “became almost a craze” (A. Einstein); this is attested to by G. Zarlino (Institutioni harmoniche, III 79) and M.E. de Montaigne: “these peasants with lute in hand, and even the pastoral poems of Ariosto; on their lips” (Journal de voyage 1580–81).

Einstein, a researcher of Ariosto’s connections with the history of madrigals and related genres, calls Orlando “a gold-mine for musicians”; the first of these was the frottolista B. Tromboncino, who set the stanza Queste non son piú lacrime (canto XXIII/stanza 126) to music in 1517 according to the strambotta pattern (aaab); in 1520, it was published as a monody, serving as a model for subsequent songs. In terms of madrigal compositions, the greatest concentration of Ariosto’s texts occurred between 1540 and 1580, i.e. during the early and classical periods of the genre. Among those who wrote music for Ariosto’s stanzas were P. Verdelot, J. Arcadelt, V. Ruffo, F. Corteccia, B. Lupacchino, N. Dorati, G.T. Cimello, A. Della Viola, G. Fiesco, C. de Rore, A. Barre, Don Salvatore di Cataldo (all introductory stanzas, 1559), P. Taglia, J. de Berchem (93 stanzas in 3 books entitled Capriccio 1561), O. di Lasso, C. Merulo, G. Zarlino, S. Rossetti, A. Gabrieli, V. Galilei, B.S. di Nardò, A. Striggio, G. de Wert, M.A. Ingegneri; in the late madrigal period, Ariosto is referred to more and more sporadically (e.g. A. Cifra), and his place is slowly taken by T. Tasso and G.B. Guarini. Certain types of Orlando’s texts were (according to Einstein) particularly popular for setting to music (they were also often associated with a specific type of texture and expression): 1. sentential stanzas (most often introductory), containing the narrator’s reflections on the bitterness of love in epigrammatic form (e.g. II/1 Ingiustissimo Amor, octave composed about 20 times), the uncertainty of friendship (e.g. XIX/1 Alcun non può saper, including C. de Rore), etc., most often composed in a typical, linear madrigal texture; 2. mimetic, painterly stanzas, focused on the sensual description of the beauty of the pastoral landscape (e.g. VI/21 Vaghi boschetti di soavi allori, G. de Wert) or the charms of the female nude (e.g. VII/11–15 Di persona era tanto ben formata, including Lasso’s 1573 cycle of madrigals about Alcina), encouraging the intensification of chordal homophonisation or the use of onomatopoeic devices; 3. expressive stances, presenting the characters’ monologues from the climactic moments of the action, most often in the form of complaints, lamentations or regrets, e.g.: Orlando’s lament for Angelica: Deh, dove senza me (VIII/76—78), A. Gabrieli 1575; Queste non son piú lacrime (XXIII/126-128), B. Tromboncino 1517, P. Verdelot 1541, A. Striggio ca. 1575; Bradamante’s lamentations for Ruggiero: Dunque fia ver dicea (XXXII/18–21), V. Ruffo ca. 1545, F. Corteccia 1547, A. Barre 1555, J. de Berchem ca. 1561, C. Merulo, A. Gabrieli ca. 1575; Dunque baciar si belle (XXXVI/32–33), G. de Wert 1561, A. Gabrieli ca. 1575; Come la notte ogni fiammella (XLV/37), C. de Rore; Bradamante’s message to Ruggiero: Ruggier, qual sempre fui, tal esser voglio (XLVI/59–63), V. Ruffo, G. Danckert; Olimpia’s lament for Biren: Il falso amante che i pensati inganni (X/19–34), S. Rossetti 1567; E dove non potea la debil voce (X/25–27), B.S. di Nardò ca. 1570, A. Gabrieli 1575; the scene of Zerbin’s death and Isabella’s lament: Ella non sa, se non invan dolersi (XXIV/77–86), A. Barre 1555, P. Taglia 1564, A. Gabrieli 1575; Sacripante’s lament for Angelica: La verginella è simile alla rosa (1/42–44), G. de Wert 1558, A. Gabrieli 1575, W. Byrd 1588.

In the early madrigalists, these compositions were limited to a single stanza (chosen from a group forming a scene), while in later ones they usually formed cycles consisting of several or even a dozen or so madrigals (in Rossetti, 1567: 16 stanzas preceded by an instrumental canzona), anticipating the cantata or dramatic scene (such as Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda). G. Zarlino (1558) considered the laments from Orlando to be the most suitable for solo singing due to their expressiveness and requiring a reduction in polyphony; their role in the history of music was significantly linked to the preparation – within the madrigal – of both a narrative recitative style (e.g. in A. Gabrieli) and a lyrical-expressive monody (e.g. in Madrigali ariosi, 1555, A. Barrego), and the laments of Bradamante and Olympia (already titled as such in Rossetti, 1567, and B.S. di Nardò, 1570) preceded the laments of Ariadne and Dido, anticipating this specific type of scene, which was constitutive of 17th-century opera. Finally, one of the most widespread structures of ostinato technique, the so-called Ruggiero (or Fedele) bass, became associated with the text of Orlando, its melodic formula accompanying Bradamante’s words from canto XLIV: Ruggier, qual sempre fui, tal esser voglio, which in turn became the basis for the formation of the so-called arias di Ruggiero, 17th century instrumental dances and their variations.

In the history of opera, Ariostian themes, motifs and episodes – although much less popular than Homeric, Ovidian, Virgilian and Tassian ones – played a certain role, contributing to the development of the thematic trend of fantastic opera (opera of “wonders”) and romantic opera in the 17th and 18th centuries; adapted to the requirements of the current style and circumstances, developed (e.g. combined with motifs from Tasso) or paraphrased by librettists such as G. Braccioli, P. Quinault, P. Metastasio and G. Bertati, they formed the basis for over a hundred operas, representing various variations of the genre (dramma per musica, tragedie lyrique, dramma giocoso, semi-giocoso, serenata, pastorale, singspiel), depending on the chosen approach to a given theme. The theme of Orlando’s love for Angelica and his titular madness was taken up by Lully, Steffani, Ristori, Vivaldi, Handel, Rameau (unfinished work) and Haydn; it was also the subject given simultaneously to Gluck (who destroyed his sketches for the opera) and Piccinni, initiating the famous Parisian dispute between Gluckists and Piccinnists. The bucolic episode of Angelica and Medor – often used in epithalamic contexts – inspired operas by Porpora and Graun, among others. The vicissitudes of Bradamante and Ruggiero’s feelings interested Rossi, Cavalli and Hasse, among others, while the episode of Ginevra and Ariodante interested Handel and Méhul, among others. The episode concerning Ruggiero’s stay on the island of the sorceress Alcina was particularly successful (from F. Caccini through Albinoni and Handel to the composers of the Classical era). The most significant operatic works inspired by Ariosto, apart from the historically important Florentine dramas, are considered to be Lully’s lyrical tragedy Roland (performed for several decades; parodied in 1727 as Arlequin Rolland) and two outstanding works by Handel: Alcina, a model of opera-ballet (written for the French dancer M. Sallé) and Orlando (written for the castrato F. Bernardi, known as Senesino); the scene of the hero’s madness anticipates Gluck’s expressive style. The themes of Orlando furioso – as they were widely known – were also successfully used as subjects for ballets de cour (Le ballet de Mr de Vendosme, performed in Paris in 1610; Le ballet du Roy représentant La furie de Roland, performed in Paris in 1618) and pantomime ballet interludes (including Bradamante e Ruggiero, performed in Turin in 1766; Rogerius auf der Insel der Alcine, performed in Mannheim in 1772; Alcine ed Astolfo, performed in Turin in 1792) and intermezzos (e.g. Melissa schernita, performed in Naples in 1709).

With the advent of the 19th century, despite the clear interest in Ariosto among Romantic poets and painters, the direct links between music and the themes conveyed by Orlando gradually faded, clearly receding into the background. Isolated examples include N.-H. Réber’s cantata Roland (1875), A. Holmès’s programme symphony Orlando Furioso (c. 1880), and G. Auric’s ballets Les enchantements d’Alcine (1929) and La follia di Orlando (1943) by G. Petrassi, in which the baritone recitative restores the authentic verses of the poet, lost since the days of the madrigal.

Editions: Orlando furioso, ed. S. Debenedetti and C. Segre, Bologna 1960; Orland szalony, translated by P. Kochanowski, ed. J. Czubek, Krakow 1905, ed. R. Pollak, Wrocław 1965.

Literature: G. Zarlino Istitutioni harmoniche, Venice 1558, facsimile Rochester 1954; A. Einstein Aria di Ruggiero, “Zeitschrift der Internazionalen Musikgesselschaft” XIII, 1911/12; O. Sonneck Catalogue of Opera Librettos Printed before 1800, 2 vols., Washington 1914; K. Chłędowski Dwór w Ferrarze, Lviv 21930; U. Rolandi In margine ad un centenario. Messer Ludovico in musica, Como 1934; A. Einstein The Italian Madrigal, 3 vols., Princeton 1949; A. Einstein Orlando Furioso and La Gerusalemme Liberata as Set to Musie during the 16th and 17th Centuries, “Notes” VIII, 1951; E. Obniska Continuum akcji dramatycznej w operach Händla, “Muzyka” 1976 No. 1; A. Szweykowska Dramma per musica w teatrze Wazów, Krakow 1976.