Epic
Orlando in Love
Orlando innamorato
Matteo Maria Boiardo · 1483
Opening lines
Signori e cavallier che ve adunati
Per odir cose dilettose e nove,
Stati attenti e quïeti, ed ascoltati
La bella istoria che 'l mio canto muove;
E vedereti i gesti smisurati,
L'alta fatica e le mirabil prove
Che fece il franco Orlando per amore
Nel tempo del re Carlo imperatore.
Lords and knights who are gathered here
To hear delightful and new things,
Be attentive and quiet, and listen
To the fair story that my song sets in motion;
And you will see the boundless deeds,
The lofty toil and the wondrous feats
That valiant Orlando performed for love
In the time of King Charles the emperor.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
Angelica, a princess from a distant land, appears at the court of Charlemagne during a tournament, together with her brother Argalia. When he is killed by the knight Ferraù, she flees, and the paladins, led by Orlando and Rinaldo, rush off in pursuit of her. Enchanted fountains awaken love in some and hatred in others, while the Saracen king Agramant prepares to invade France.
Context
The first two books appeared in 1483; the third, left unfinished, in 1495. Ariosto continued the story in his own poem in 1516, and Francesco Berni rewrote Boiardo's poem in a modernised language in 1531. In French, Alain-René Lesage produced an adapted translation under the title “Roland amoureux”; in English, Charles Stanley Ross translated it under the title “Orlando in Love”.
Who it is for
A long chivalric epic in octaves, full of twists, to be read in episodes or in extracts.
Prizes and reception
The poem was eclipsed by Ariosto's sequel to it, which became more famous than the original.