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= Orlando_Furioso =
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Introduction
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'Orlando furioso' (; 'The Frenzy of Orlando') is an Italian epic poem
by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later
culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was
not published in its complete form until 1532. 'Orlando furioso' is a
continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's unfinished romance 'Orlando
innamorato' ('Orlando in Love', published posthumously in 1495). In
its historical setting and characters, it shares some features with
the Old French 'La Chanson de Roland' of the eleventh century, which
tells of the death of Roland. The story is also a chivalric romance
which stemmed from a tradition beginning in the late Middle Ages and
continuing in popularity in the 16th century and well into the 17th.
Orlando is the Christian knight known in French (and subsequently
English) as Roland. The story takes place against the background of
the war between Charlemagne's Christian paladins and the Saracen army
that has invaded Europe and is attempting to overthrow the Christian
empire. The poem is about knights and ladies, war and love, and the
romantic ideal of chivalry. It mixes realism and fantasy, humor and
tragedy. The stage is the entire world, plus a trip to the Moon. The
large cast of characters features Christians and Saracens, soldiers
and sorcerers, and fantastic creatures including a gigantic sea
monster called the Orc and a flying horse called the hippogriff. Many
themes are interwoven in its complicated episodic structure, but the
most important are the paladin Orlando's unrequited love for the pagan
princess Angelica, which drives him mad; the love between the female
Christian warrior Bradamante and the Saracen Ruggiero, who are
supposed to be the ancestors of Ariosto's patrons, the House of Este
of Ferrara; and the war between Christian and Infidel.
The poem is divided into forty-six cantos, each containing a variable
number of eight-line stanzas in 'ottava rima' (a rhyme scheme of
abababcc). 'Ottava rima' had been used in previous Italian romantic
epics, including Luigi Pulci's 'Morgante' and Boiardo's 'Orlando
Innamorato'. Ariosto's work is 38,736 lines long in total, making it
one of the longest poems in European literature.
Composition and publication
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Ariosto began working on the poem around 1506, when he was 32. The
first edition of the poem, in 40 cantos, was published in Ferrara in
April 1516 and dedicated to the poet's patron Ippolito d'Este. A
second edition appeared in 1521 with minor revisions.
Ariosto continued to write more material for the poem and in the 1520s
he produced five more cantos, marking a further development of his
poetry, which he decided not to include in the final edition. They
were published after his death by his illegitimate son Virginio under
the title 'Cinque canti' and are highly regarded by some modern
critics. The third and final version of 'Orlando Furioso', containing
46 cantos, appeared in 1532.
Ariosto had sought stylistic advice from the humanist Pietro Bembo to
give his verse the last degree of polish and this is the version known
to posterity.
The first English translation by John Harington was published in 1591
at the behest of Queen Elizabeth I, who reportedly banned Harington
from court until the translation was complete.
Ariosto and Boiardo
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Ariosto's poem is a sequel to Matteo Maria Boiardo's 'Orlando
Innamorato' ('Orlando in Love'). One of Boiardo's main achievements
was his fusion of the Matter of France (the tradition of stories about
Charlemagne and paladins such as Roland) with the Matter of Britain
(the legends about King Arthur and his knights). The latter contained
the magical elements and love interest that were generally lacking in
the more austere and warlike poems about Carolingian heroes.
Ariosto continued to mix these elements in his poem as well as adding
material derived from Classical sources. However, Ariosto has an
ironic tone rarely present in Boiardo, who treated the ideals of
chivalry much more seriously. In 'Orlando Furioso', instead of the
chivalric ideals which were no longer current in the 16th century, a
humanistic conception of man and life is vividly celebrated under the
appearance of a fantastical world, notwithstanding his early modern
approaches to feminism.
Plot
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The action of 'Orlando Furioso' takes place against the background of
the war between the Christian emperor Charlemagne and the Saracen king
of Africa, , who has invaded Europe to avenge the death of his father
Troiano. Agramante and his allies - who include Marsilio, the King of
Spain, and the boastful warrior Rodomonte - besiege Charlemagne in
Paris.
Meanwhile, Orlando, Charlemagne's most famous paladin, has been
tempted to forget his duty to protect the emperor because of his love
for the pagan princess Angelica. At the beginning of the poem,
Angelica escapes from the castle of the Bavarian Duke Namo, and
Orlando sets off in pursuit. The two meet with various adventures
until Angelica comes across a wounded Saracen infantryman on the verge
of death, Medoro. She nurses him back to health, falls in love, and
elopes with him to Cathay.
When Orlando learns the truth, by finding the pair's secret garden of
love, or 'Locus Amoenus,' he goes mad with despair and rampages
through Europe and Africa destroying everything in his path, and thus
demonstrates the frenzy that the title suggests. The English knight
Astolfo journeys to Ethiopia on the hippogriff to find a cure for
Orlando's madness.
He flies up in Elijah's flaming chariot to the Moon, where everything
lost on Earth is to be found, including Orlando's wits. He brings them
back in a bottle and makes Orlando sniff them, thus restoring him to
sanity. (At the same time Orlando falls out of love with Angelica, as
the author explains that love is itself a form of insanity.)
Orlando joins with Brandimarte and Oliver to fight Agramante, Sobrino
and Gradasso on the island of Lampedusa. There Orlando kills King
Agramante.
Another important plotline involves the love between the female
Christian warrior Bradamante and the Saracen Ruggiero. They too have
to endure many vicissitudes.
Ruggiero is taken captive by the sorceress Alcina and has to be freed
from her magic island. He then rescues Angelica from the orc. He also
has to avoid the enchantments of his foster father, the wizard
Atlante, who does not want him to fight or see the world outside of
his iron castle, because looking into the stars it is revealed that if
Ruggiero converts himself to Christianity, he will die. He does not
know this, so when he finally gets the chance to marry Bradamante, as
they had been looking for each other through the entire poem although
something always separated them, he converts to Christianity and
marries Bradamante.
Rodomonte appears at the wedding feast, nine days after the wedding,
and accuses him of being a traitor to the Saracen cause, and the poem
ends with a duel between Rodomonte and Ruggiero. Ruggiero kills
Rodomonte (Canto XLVI, stanza 140) and the final lines of the poem
describe Rodomonte's spirit leaving the world. Ruggiero and Bradamante
are the ancestors of the House of Este, Ariosto's patrons, whose
genealogy he gives at length in canto 3 of the poem.
The epic contains many other characters, including Orlando's cousin,
the paladin Rinaldo, who is also in love with Angelica; the thief
Brunello; the Saracen Ferraù; Sacripante, King of Circassia and a
leading Saracen knight; and the tragic heroine Isabella.
File:Orlando furioso canto34.jpg|Page from 1565 edition of 'Orlando
Furioso' by Francesco Franceschi
File:Giovanni Lanfranco - Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre
- WGA12455.jpg|'Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre', from
Canto XVII, by Giovanni Lanfranco, 1624
Later literature
==================
'Orlando Furioso' is "one of the most influential works in the whole
of European literature" and it remains an inspiration for writers to
this day.
A few years before Ariosto's death, the poet Teofilo Folengo published
his 'Orlandino', a caricaturization of the stories found in both
'Orlando Furioso' and its precursor, 'Orlando Innamorato'.
In 1554, Laura Terracina wrote the 'Discorso sopra il Principio di
tutti i canti d'Orlando furioso' which was linked to 'Orlando Furioso'
and in which several of the characters appeared.
'Orlando Furioso' was a major influence on Edmund Spenser's epic 'The
Faerie Queene'. William Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing' takes
one of its plots (Hero/Claudio/Don John) from 'Orlando Furioso'
(probably via Spenser or Bandello). In 1592, Robert Greene published a
play called 'The Historie of Orlando Furioso'. According to Barbara
Reynolds, the English poet closest in spirit to Ariosto is Lord Byron.
In Spain, Lope de Vega wrote a continuation of the epic ('La hermosura
de Angélica', 1602) as did Luis Barahona de Soto ('Las lágrimas de
Angélica', 1586). Góngora wrote a famous poem describing the idyllic
honeymoon of Angelica and Medoro ('En un pastoral albergue'). 'Orlando
Furioso' is mentioned among the romances in 'Don Quixote'. Among the
interpolated stories within 'Don Quixote' is a retelling of a tale
from canto 43 regarding a man who tests the fidelity of his wife.
Additionally, various literary critics have noted the poem's likely
influence on Garcilaso de la Vega's second eclogue.
In France, Jean de la Fontaine used the plots of some of the bawdier
episodes for three of his 'Contes et Nouvelles en vers' (1665-66).
In chapter 11 of Sir Walter Scott's novel 'Rob Roy' published in 1817,
but set circa 1715, Mr. Francis Osbaldistone talks of completing "my
unfinished version of 'Orlando Furioso', a poem which I longed to
render into English verse...".
Virginia Woolf's eponymous historical romance 'Orlando' (1928) is
intricately structured by permutations of many elements of Ariosto's
poem.
The modern Russian poet Osip Mandelstam paid tribute to 'Orlando
Furioso' in his poem 'Ariosto' (1933).
The Italian novelist Italo Calvino drew on Ariosto for several of his
works of fiction including 'Il cavaliere inesistente' ("The
Nonexistent Knight", 1959) and 'Il castello dei destini incrociati'
("The Castle of Crossed Destinies", 1973). In 1970 Calvino brought out
his own selection of extracts from the poem.
The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges was an admirer of 'Orlando' and
included a poem, 'Ariosto y los árabes' ('Ariosto and the Arabs'),
exploring the relationship between the epic and the 'Arabian Nights',
in his 1960 collection 'El hacedor'. Borges also chose Attilio
Momigliano's critical study of the work as one of the hundred volumes
that were to make up his 'Personal Library'.
The English novelist Anthony Powell's 'Hearing Secret Harmonies'
includes images from 'Orlando Furioso' to open chapter two. 'Hearing
Secret Harmonies' is the final book in Powell's twelve-volume series,
'A Dance to the Music of Time'.
British writer Salman Rushdie's 2008 novel 'The Enchantress of
Florence' was partly inspired by 'Orlando Furioso'.
Popular fiction
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Bradamante is one of the main characters in several novels, including
Linda C. McCabe's 'Quest of the Warrior Maiden', Ron Miller's
'Bradamant: The Iron Tempest' and Ruth Berman's 'Bradamant's Quest'.
Science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon's 1954 short story "To Here
and the Easel" is an assembly of portions of the Orlando story
intermixed with a current-day recasting of the story into the lives of
a painter suffering from artist's block (Ruggiero/Rogero and his
analog Giles), a mysterious faithful supporter (Bradamante and her
analog Miss Brandt) and her jaded, fabulously wealthy employer
(Angelica appearing as an echo more than an analog) and Giles'
redemption (breaking his blockage) at the hands of Miss Brandt. The
story first appeared in 1954 in "Star Short Novels" (a Ballantine
collection which was not reprinted), and was republished as the first
story in the collection 'Sturgeon Is Alive And Well...' in 1971.
'The Castle of Iron', a fantasy novel by L. Sprague de Camp and
Fletcher Pratt, takes place in the "universe" of 'Orlando Furioso'. It
was the third story (and afterwards the second volume) in their Harold
Shea series.
Music
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In the Baroque era, the poem was the basis of many operas. Among the
earliest were Francesca Caccini's 'La liberazione di Ruggiero
dall'isola d'Alcina' ("The Liberation of Ruggiero from Alcina's
Island", 1625), Luigi Rossi's 'Il palazzo incantato' (1642) and
Agostino Steffani's 'Orlando generoso' (1691). Antonio Vivaldi, as an
impresario as well as a composer, staged three operas on themes from
Ariosto: 'Orlando furioso' (1713) by Giovanni Alberto Ristori,
'Orlando Furioso' (1714), with music by Ristori and by himself, and
'Orlando' (1727). Perhaps the most famous operas inspired by the poem
are those by Handel: 'Orlando' (1733), 'Ariodante' and 'Alcina'
(1735). In France, Jean-Baptiste Lully turned to Ariosto for his
'tragédie en musique Roland' (1685). Rameau's comic opera 'Les
Paladins' (1760) is based on a story in canto 18 of 'Orlando' (though
Rameau's librettist derived the plot indirectly via La Fontaine's
'Contes'). The enthusiasm for operas based on Ariosto continued into
the Classical era and beyond with such examples as Johann Adolph
Hasse’s 'Il Ruggiero' (1771), Niccolò Piccinni's 'Roland' (1778),
Haydn's 'Orlando paladino' (1782), Méhul's 'Ariodant' (1799) and Simon
Mayr's 'Ginevra di Scozia' (1801). Ambroise Thomas wrote a comedic
one-act, 'Angélique et Médor', in 1843. Augusta Holmès wrote her
orchestral work Roland Furieux in 1876.
Art
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'Orlando Furioso' has been the inspiration for many works of art,
including paintings by Eugène Delacroix, Tiepolo, Ingres, Redon, and a
series of illustrations by Gustave Doré.
In his poem Ludovico Ariosto relates how Marphise, the woman warrior,
knocks the knight Pinabello off his horse after his lady had mocked
Marphise's companion, the old woman Gabrina. In 'Marphise' by Eugène
Delacroix, Pinabello lies on the ground, and his horse gallops off in
the distance. The knight's lady, meanwhile, is forced to disrobe and
give her fancy clothing to Gabrina. Marphise's horse, undisturbed by
the drama, nonchalantly munches on the leaves overhead.
Other
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In 1975, Luca Ronconi directed an Italian television mini-series based
on 'Orlando Furioso', starring Massimo Foschi (it) as Orlando, and
Ottavia Piccolo as Angelica.
In the late 1960s / early 1970s, the Bob and Ray comedy parody radio
show 'Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife' centered around the Backstayge's
stage production of the fictional play "Westchester Furioso", an
updating of 'Orlando Furioso' that somehow involved musical numbers,
tap dancing and ping pong.
In 1966, Italian Disney comics artist Luciano Bottaro wrote a parody
of 'Orlando Furioso' starring Donald Duck, 'Paperin Furioso'. In the
film 'Moonstruck' there is a reference to one of the character's
rejuvenation as a lover as feeling like "Orlando Furioso".
Emanuele Luzzati's animated short film, 'I paladini di Francia',
together with Giulio Gianini, in 1960, was turned into the children's
picture-story book, with verse narrative, 'I Paladini de Francia
ovvero il tradimento di Gano di Maganz', which translates literally as
“The Paladins of France or the treachery of Gano of Maganz” (Ugo
Mursia Editore, 1962). This was then republished, in English, as
'Ronald and the Wizard Calico' (1969). The Picture Lion paperback
edition (William Collins, London, 1973) is a paperback imprint of the
Hutchinson Junior Books edition (1969), which credits the English
translation to Hutchinson Junior Books.
Luzatti's original verse story in Italian is about the plight of a
beautiful maiden called Biancofiore - White Flower, or Blanchefleur -
and her brave hero, Captain Rinaldo, and Ricardo and his paladins -
the term used for Christian knights engaged in Crusades against the
Saracens and Moore. Battling with these good people are the wicked
Moors - North African Muslims and Arabs - and their Sultan, in
Jerusalem. With the assistance of the wicked and treacherous magician,
Gano of Maganz, Biancofiore is stolen from her fortress castle, and
taken to become the reluctant wife of the Sultan. The catalyst for
victory is the good magician, Urlubulu, who lives in a lake, and flies
through the air on the back of his magic blue bird. The English
translators, using the original illustrations, and the basic rhyme
patterns, slightly simplify the plot, changing the
Christians-versus-Muslim-Moors conflict into a battle between good and
bad magicians and between golden knights and green knights. The French
traitor in 'The Song of Roland', who is actually Roland's cowardly
step-father, is Ganelon - very likely the inspiration for Luzzati's
traitor and wicked magician, Gano. Orlando Furioso (literally, Furious
or Enraged Orlando, or Roland), includes Orlando's cousin, the paladin
Rinaldo, who, like Orlando, is also in love with Angelica, a pagan
princess. Rinaldo is, of course, the Italian equivalent of Ronald.
Flying through the air on the back of a magic bird is equivalent to
flying on a magic hippogriff.
In 2014, Enrico Maria Giglioli created 'Orlando's Wars: lotta tra
cavalieri', a trading card game with characters and situations of the
poem, divided in four categories: Knight, Maiden, Wizard and Fantastic
Creature.
The poem appears as a Great Work of Literature in the video game
'Civilization V'.
In the South Korean video game 'Library of Ruina', several characters
are named after characters from the poem and Innamorato-Roland is a
protagonist, his deceased wife is named Angelica, and his
brother-in-law and a major antagonist is named Argalia.
Astolfo appears as a servant in 'Fate/Apocrypha' and 'Fate/Grand
Order', with multiple references to his depictions within the poem.
The word rodomontade, meaning boastful or inflated talk or behavior,
entered the English language in the early 1600s from Italian. It is
based on this work's boastful warrior, Rodomonte.
Analysis
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'Orlando Furioso' won immediate fame. Around the middle of the 16th
century, some Italian critics such as Gian Giorgio Trissino complained
that the poem failed to observe the unity of action as defined by
Aristotle, by having multiple plots rather than a single main story.
The French poet Pierre de Ronsard and the Italian poet Torquato Tasso
both felt that 'Orlando Furioso' lacked structural unity. Ariosto's
defenders, such as Giovanni Battista Giraldi, replied that it was not
a Classical epic but a 'romanzo', a genre unknown to Aristotle;
therefore his standards were irrelevant. Nevertheless, the strictures
of the Classical critics influenced the next great Italian epic,
Torquato Tasso's 'Gerusalemme Liberata' (1581). Tasso tried to combine
Ariosto's freedom of invention with a more unified plot structure. In
the following decades, Italian critics argued over the respective
merits of the two epics. Partisans of 'Orlando', such as Galileo
Galilei, praised its psychological realism and the naturalness of its
language. In the 19th century, Hegel considered that the work's many
allegories and metaphors did not serve merely to refute the ideal of
chivalry, but also to demonstrate the fallacy of human senses and
judgment. Francesco de Sanctis and Attilio Momigliano (it) also wrote
about 'Orlando Furioso'.
The story resembles the myth of Andromeda and Perseus, and in
particular the scene where a woman is chained naked to a rock on the
sea as a sacrifice to a sea monster, and is rescued at the last
moment, is essentially indistinguishable.
Translations
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There have been several verse translations of 'Orlando Furioso' into
English, most using the 8-line stanzas (octaves) of the original
(abababcc). The first one was by John Harington, published in 1591 and
slightly revised in 1634. Temple Henry Croker's translation,
misattributed to William Huggins' and Henry Boyd's translation were
published in 1757 and 1784, respectively. John Hoole's 1783
translation used rhyming couplets (AABBCC...). William Stewart Rose
produced an eight-volume translation beginning publication in 1823 and
ending in 1831. Barbara Reynolds published a verse translation in
1975, and an abridged verse translation by David Slavitt was published
in 2009, which was then made complete by a second volume containing
the lacunae missing from the abridgement, in 2012.
A few translations have also been made into prose. A. H. Gilbert's
translation was published by Duke University Press in 1954. Richard
Hodgens planned a multivolume translation, whose first volume,
subtitled 'The Ring of Angelica', was published by Ballantine Books as
the fifty-fourth volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in
January, 1973. The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series came to an end in
1974; no further volumes of the Hodgens translation were published.
Guido Waldman's complete prose translation was first published by
Oxford University Press in 1973.
A comparison of the original text of Book 1, Canto 1 with various
translations into English is given in the following table:
Author/translator !! Date !! Text
Lodovico Ariosto 1516/1532 Le donne, i cavallier, l'arme, gli
amori Le cortesie, l'audaci imprese io canto; Che furo al tempo, che
passaro i Mori D'Africa il mare, e in Francia nocquer tanto; Seguendo
l'ire, e i giovenil furori D'Agramante lor Re, che si diè vanto Di
vendicar la morte di Troiano Sopra Re Carlo Imperador Romano.
Sir John Harington 1591 Of Dames, of Knights, of armes, of loues
delight, Of courtesies, of high attempts I speake, Then when the
Moores transported all their might On Affrick seas the force of France
to breake: Drawne by the youthfull heate and raging spite, Of Agramant
their king, that vowd to wreake The death of King Trayana (lately
slayne) Vpon the Romane Emperour Charlemaine.
Sir John Harington 1634 edition Of Dames, of Knights, of armes,
of loves delight, Of courtesies, of high attempts I speake, Then when
the Moores transported all their might On Africke seas, the force of
France to breake: Incited by the youthfull heate and spight Of
Agramant their king, that vow'd to wreake The death of King Trayano
(lately slaine) Vpon the Romane Emperour Charlemaine.
Temple Henry Croker, attr. William Huggins 1757 Of ladies,
cavaliers, of arms and love, Their courtesies, their bold exploits, I
sing, When over Afric's sea the Moor did move, On France's realm such
ruin vast to bring; While they the youthful ire and fury strove Of
Agramant to follow, boastful King, That of Trojano he'd revenge the
doom, On Charlemain, the Emperor of Rome.
John Hoole 1783 Dames, knights, and arms, and love! The deeds
that spring From courteous minds, and venturous feats, I sing! What
time the Moors from Afric's hostile strand Had crost the seas to
ravage Gallia's land, By Agramant, their youthful monarch, led In deep
resentment for Troyano dead, With threats on Charlemain t'avenge his
fate, Th'imperial guardian of the Roman state.
William Stewart Rose 1823 OF LOVES and LADIES, KNIGHTS and ARMS,
I sing, Of COURTESIES, and many a DARING FEAT; And from those ancient
days my story bring, When Moors from Afric passed in hostile fleet,
And ravaged France, with Agramant their king, Flushed with his
youthful rage and furious heat; Who on king Charles', the Roman
emperor's head Had vowed due vengeance for Troyano dead.
Barbara Reynolds 1975 Of ladies, cavaliers, of love and war, Of
courtesies and of brave deeds I sing, In times of high endeavour when
the Moor Had crossed the seas from Africa to bring Great harm to
France, when Agramante swore In wrath, being now the youthful Moorish
king, To avenge Troiano, who was lately slain, Upon the Roman Emperor
Charlemagne.
|David R. Slavitt 2009 Of ladies, knights, of passions and of
wars, of courtliness, and of valiant deeds I sing that took place in
that era when the Moors crossed the sea from Africa to bring such
troubles to France. I shall tell of the greatest stores of rage in the
heart of Agramant, the king who swore revenge on Charlemagne who had
murdered King Troiano (Agramant's dad).
External links
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*
*
* [
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/615/pg615-images.html Project
Gutenberg, Rose translation]
*
* [
http://digilander.libero.it/testi_di_ariosto/index.html 'Orlando
Furioso']
* [
https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-MONTAIGNE-00001-00005-00006/5
'Orlando Furioso'] - Montaigne's copy, fully digitised in Cambridge
Digital Library
* Massimo Colella,
[
https://www.italinemo.it/fascicolo/rivista-di-letteratura-italiana-2019-n-3/
Sol d'Orlandin i' canto, e nondimeno...'. Lettura dell' 'Orlandino' di
Teofilo Folengo"], in 'Rivista di Letteratura Italiana', XXXVII, 3,
2019, pp. 9-29.
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Furioso
