A mature work from both Lully and Quinault, Roland is part of a “trilogy” of epic-inspired operas, standing apart from mythological lyric tragedies. It lies between Amadis, based on the Spanish chivalric novel Amadis de Gaule by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (parodied by Cervantes in Don Quichotte), and Armide, inspired by Gerusalemme Liberata, Tasso’s sublime epic, romantic before its time. Roland focuses on a famous episode from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, in which a knight literally goes mad with love for the woman who betrayed him.

Ariosto’s novel, rich and baroque, combines eroticism with irreverence. Like Shakespeare, its author was poorly received in France. Anarchic and nonchalant, whimsical and muddled, Orlando Furioso clashed with French tastes, which frowned on excess: “Although disorder is often entertaining, it is still disorder.” (Guez de Balzac). Its disjointed story, full of improbabilities, lent itself poorly to moral lessons or royal propaganda. But perhaps it is this disregard for conventional rules that unleashed the imagination of the French authors who adapted it: the hybrid genre of tragicomedy owes much to it. So does opera: how much irony, mischief, and humour are found in Quinault’s libretto! Its structure follows none of Aristotle’s principles: the lovers vanish in Act III and never return, making way for the raging madness of the hero – or rather, anti-hero.

Tragedy in music in a prologue and five acts with a libretto by Philippe Quinault, inspired by Orlando Furioso by Ariosto, premiered at the Royal Academy of Music in 1685.

Concert in French, with surtitles in French and English.

PRESTIGE VIP CATEGORY : Best seats in house, you will receive a complimentary programme and a glass of champagne.

PRESTIGE CATEGORY : Excellent seats, you will receive a complimentary programme and a glass of champagne.

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