Orlando finto pazzo (;
Orlando, the Fake Madman) is an opera (
dramma per musica) in three acts composed by
Antonio Vivaldi to a
libretto by
Grazio Braccioli. The plot is based on an episode in
Matteo Boiardo's unfinished epic poem
Orlando Innamorato . The second of Vivaldi's known operas,
Orlando finto pazzo premiered in November 1714 (dedication 10 November) at the
Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice. Vivaldi acted as
impresario (in partnership with his father Giovanni Battista) as well as composer. Apparently the opera did not meet much approval from the audience and was billed only on few dates, just to be replaced, on 1 December, by a revival of
Giovanni Alberto Ristori’s
Orlando furioso , a work that the Vivaldi "
impresa" had very successfully staged in 1713.