Antigone2.0012_Orlandini

Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, 1675-1760, Antigona, opera seria or melodramma, libretto by Benedetto Pasquaglio (a.k.a. Merindo Fasanio), first performed 1718 for Carnival at San Cassiano, Venice.

Fasanio's inventive libretto diverges significantly from the classical myth. Antigone has borne a daughter named Jocasta to her secret partner Osmene, the son of Creonte. Unknowingly Creonte makes plans for the marriage of Jocasta and Osmene. When Osmene objects, the truth is revealed and the lovers are sentenced to be entombed alive. Creonte relents under extreme public outrage, the sentence repealed, and a happy ending achieved.

Orlandini's Antigona was performed with some frequency for a time, but it yielded in popularity eventually to Roccaforte's more successful Antigona (1751) (Antigone2.0014_Galuppi). Roccaforte derives his plot largely from the innovative plot elements of Orlandini's work.