Giuseppe Maria Orlandini
Illustration — Giuseppe Maria Orlandini(1676–1760), Italian baroque composer Giuseppe Maria Orlandini (4 April 167624 October 1760) was an Italian Baroque composer particularly known for his more than 40 operas and intermezzos. Highly regarded by music historians of his day like Francesco Saverio Quadrio, Jean-Benjamin de La Borde and Charles Burney, Orlandini, along with Vivaldi, is considered one of the major creators of the new style of opera that dominated the second decade of the 18th century.
Giuseppe Maria Orlandini

Cesare Mussini · Public domain
- Born
- 1676 · Florence.
- Died
- 1760 · Florence.
- Nationality
- Grand Duchy of Tuscany
- Occupation
- composer · chapelmaster · impresario · bandleader
- Fields
- music · opera · music composing · composed musical work
- Movements
- Baroque music
- Languages
- Italian
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Giuseppe Maria Orlandini(1676–1760), Italian baroque composer Giuseppe Maria Orlandini (4 April 167624 October 1760) was an Italian Baroque composer particularly known for his more than 40 operas and intermezzos. Highly regarded by music historians of his day like Francesco Saverio Quadrio, Jean-Benjamin de La Borde and Charles Burney, Orlandini, along with Vivaldi, is considered one of the major creators of the new style of opera that dominated the second decade of the 18th century.
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Note VALÉORINE
Giuseppe Maria Orlandini (1676–1760) was a bandleader, chapelmaster and composer, among other activities, a national of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The bandleader was born and died in Florence.
Activity centred on composed musical work, music and music composing. The bandleader was associated with Baroque music.
The work spans opera. Languages used include Italian.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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wikidata · Q594181 · wikipedia · Giuseppe Maria Orlandini
In this article
Life
Life
Orlandini worked between 1676 and 1760 across composer, chapelmaster, impresario and bandleader. The registers place that work in opera. This article rests on 18 catalogued compositions, 23 published texts, 1 digitised documents and 4 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
Born in Florence, Orlandini began working as an opera composer in his late twenties for Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici. His first opera, Artaserse, premiered in Livorno in 1706. A moderate success, the work was revived in Naples in 1708. Beginning in 1711, he was the maestro di cappella to Prince Gian Gastone (later the Duke of Tuscany). In 1717, he moved to Bologna, where he met and married opera singer Maria Maddalena Buonavia. He continued to live and work in that city for the next fifteen years. Orlandini's first major critical success was the opera Antigona which premiered in Venice during carnival of 1718. The work was highly popular and enjoyed performances throughout Europe. In 1719, he became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica. That same year his intermezzo Il marito giocatore (also performed under the title Serpilla e Bacocco in some later productions) premiered in Venice. The work became one of the most frequently performed musical dramas of the 18th century. Another successful intermezzo that was played in many opera houses in Europe was L'impresario delle Isole Canarie (Music lost). The year 1721 saw two major successes for Orlandini. His opera Arsace, a revision of his 1715 Amore e maestà, premiered at the King’s Theatre in London to critical praise, and his opera Nerone premiered to great success for the carnival season in Venice. Both works became known throughout Europe. Orlandini left Bologna to return to Florence in 1732, to become the maestro di cappella for the Medici court and the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. While serving in these positions, he continued to remain productive as an opera composer, regularly providing works for the La Pergola and Il Cocomero theatres in Florence. His last stage work was the commedia per musica Lo scialacquatore, which premiered on 14 September 1744, at the Il Cocomero. He died in Florence.
Operas
Operas
• Artaserse (dramma per musica, libretto di Pietro Pariati e Apostolo Zeno, 1706, Livorno) • L'amor generoso (dramma per musica, libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 2º Atto musica Rocco Ceruti, 1708, Firenze) • L'odio e l'amore (dramma per musica, libretto di Matteo Noris, 1709, Genova) • La fede tradita e vendicata (dramma per musica, libretto di Francesco Silvani, 1709, Genova) • Ataulfo re de' Goti, ovvero La forza della virtù (dramma per musica, 1712, Roma) • Teuzzone (dramma per musica, libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 1712, Ferrara) • Madama Dulcinea e il cuoco del Marchese del Bosco (intermezzo, Marchese Trotti, 1712, Roma) • L'innocenza difesa (dramma per musica, libretto di Francesco Silvani, 1712, Ferrara) • L'amor tirannico (dramma per musica, libretto di Domenico Lalli, 1713, Roma) • Lisetta e Delfo (intermezzo, 1713, Roma) • Bacocco e Serpilla (intermezzo, 1715, Verona) • Amore e maestà (tragedia per musica, libretto di Antonio Salvi, 1715, Firenze) • La pastorella al soglio (dramma per musica, libretto di Giulio Cesare Corradi, 1717, Mantova) • La virtù al cimento (dramma per musica, libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 1717, Mantova) • La Merope (dramma per musica, libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 1717, Bologna) • Lucio Papirio (dramma per musica, libretto di Antonio Salvi, 1717, Napoli) • Antigona (tragedia, libretto di Benedetto Pasqualigo, 1718, Venezia) • Le amazoni vinte da Ercole (dramma per musica, libretto di Antonio Salvi? o Giovanni Francesco Bussani, 1718, Reggio Emilia) • Ifigenia in Tauride (tragedia, libretto di Benedetto Pasqualigo, dopo Pier Jacopo Martello, 1719, Venezia) • Il carceriero di se stesso (dramma per musica, libretto di Antonio Salvi, 1719, Teatro Carignano di Torino con Francesca Cuzzoni) • Paride (dramma per musica, libretto di Francesco Muazzo, 1720, Venezia) • Melinda e Tiburzio (intermezzo, 1721, Venezia) • Nerone (tragedia per musica, libretto di Agostino Piovene, 1721, Venezia) • Nino (dramma per musica, libretto di Ippolito Zanella, 1722, Roma) • Ormisda (dramma per musica, libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 1722, Bologna) • L'artigiano gentiluomo (Larinda e Vanesio) (intermezzo, libretto di Antonio Salvi, basato su Le bourgeois gentilhomme di Molière, 1722, Firenze) • Alessandro Severo (dramma per musica, libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 1723, Milano) • L'Oronta (dramma per musica, libretto di Claudio Nicola Stampa, 1724, Milano) • Berenice (dramma per musica, libretto di Benedetto Pasqualigo, dopo Jean Racine, 1725, Venezia) • Il malato immaginario (Erighetta e Don Chilone) (intermezzo, libretto di Antonio Salvi, basato su Le malade imaginaire di Molière, 1725, Firenze) • Un vecchio innamorato (intermezzo, libretto di D. Marchi, 1725, Firenze) • Monsieur di Porsugnacchi (Grilletta e Porsugnacco) (intermezzo, basato su Monsieur de Pourceaugnac di Molière, 1727, Milano) • Berenice (dramma per musica, basato su Farnace di Antonio Maria Lucchini, 1728, Milano) • Adelaide (dramma per musica, libretto di Antonio Salvi, 1729, Venezia) • L'impresario dell'isole Canarie (Dorina e Nibbio) (intermezzo, libretto di Pietro Metastasio, 1729, Venezia) • Massimiano (dramma per musica, libretto di Carlo Goldoni, basato su Costantino di Pietro Pariati e Apostolo Zeno, 1731, Venezia) • Grollo e Moschetta (intermezzo, 1732, Venezia) • Ifigenia in Aulide (dramma per musica, libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 1732, Firenze) • Il marito geloso (Giletta e Ombrone) (intermezzo, 1732, Venezia) • Il Temistocle (dramma per musica, libretto di Pietro Metastasio, 1737, Firenze) • L'Olimpiade (dramma per musica, libretto di Pietro Metastasio, 1737, Firenze) • Le nozze di Perseo e Andromeda (azione drammatica, libretto by Antonio Marchi (Librettist), 1738, Florence) • Balbo e Dalisa (intermezzo, libretto di Antonio Salvi, 1740, Roma) • La Fiammetta (commedia per musica, 1743, Firenze) • Lo scialacquatore (commedia per musica, 1744, Firenze)
Doubtful works
Doubtful works
• Didone abbandonata (dramma per musica, libretto di Pietro Metastasio, 1725, Firenze) • Arianna e Teseo (dramma per musica, libretto di Pietro Pariati, 1739, Firenze) • Venceslao (dramma per musica, libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 1741, Firenze) • Vologeso re de' Parti (dramma per musica, libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 1742, Firenze)
Oratorios
Oratorios
• Il martirio di San Sebastiano (libretto di A. Ghivizzani, 1694, Firenze) • I fanciulli babilonesi (1696, Firenze) • La costanza trionfane nel martirio di Santa Lucia (libretto di B. Colzi, 1705, Firenze) • Sara in Egitto (libretto di D. Cavanese, 1708, Firenze) • Il figliuol prodigo (libretto di B. Pamphili, 1709, Siena) • Gli amori infelici di Ammone (libretto di Berzini, 1711, Firenze) • L'Assalone ovvero L'infedeltà punita (1713, Firenze) • Dal trionfo le perdite ovvero Jefte che sagrifica la sua figlia (libretto di D. Cavanese, 1716, Firenze) • Componimento per musica da cantarsi la notte del Santissimo Natale (libretto di G. B. Pontici, 1721, Roma) • L'Ester (libretto di G. Melani, 1723, Bologna) • Giuditta (1726, Castel San Pietro) • Jaele (libretto di D. Marchi, 1735, Firenze) • Assuero (1738, Firenze) • Davidde trionfante (G. M. Medici, 1738, Firenze) • Il Gioas re di Giuda (libretto di Pietro Metastasio, 1744, Firenze) • Giuseppe riconosciuto (libretto di Pietro Metastasio, 1745, Firenze) • Tobia (libretto di Apostolo Zeno, 1749, Firenze) • Componimento da cantarsi nel venerabile monastero di Santa Apollonia in Firenze (libretto di F. Casorri, 1750, Firenze) • Isacco figura del redentore (libretto di Pietro Metastasio, 1752, Firenze) • La deposizione dalla croce di Gesù Cristo Signor Nostro (libretto di G. C. Pasquini, 1760, Firenze)
Life and work
Life and work
Giuseppe Maria Orlandini was born on 4 April 1676 in Florence. Orlandini held the nationality of Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Orlandini worked as composer, chapelmaster, impresario and bandleader. The fields Orlandini worked in include opera. Orlandini worked in Italian. Orlandini is placed by the collections within Baroque music.
Other compositions
Other compositions
• La ricreazione spirituale nella musica (canzonetta spirituale, 1730, Bologna) • 3 canzonette (1739–40, Firenze) • 22 sonate a tre • Sinfonia per clavicembalo
Compositions, 1715–1800
Catalogued output
Compositions, 1715–1800
The entries below are works composed by the subject, as the institutional registers catalogue them; later performances and commercial recordings of the same music are listed separately. The 1720s are the densest part of the run, with 3 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself. They belong to a run of 15 titles in all, from 1715 to 1800.
7 compositions carry dates between 1715 and 1800
The run opens with Bacocco e Serpilla and closes with L’Elpidia, ovvero Li rivali generosi
Bacocco e Serpilla
1715
Alessandro Severo
1723
Berenice
1725
Farnace
1728
L'olimpiade
1737
Ormisda
1800
L’Elpidia, ovvero Li rivali generosi
1800
Compositions without a settled date
Catalogued output
Compositions without a settled date
8 further compositions are catalogued under Orlandini's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it. Adelaide (Excerpts) — 4 catalogued parts.
Nerone, Act 1: "Che m'ami ti prega" (Nerone)
L’Elpidia, ovvero Li rivali generosi, HWV A1
Col versar, barbaro, il sangue
Da torbida procella
Catalogued output
Writings on music
Artaserse
1708
Ataulfo re de' Goti, ovvero, La forza della virtù
1712
La virtù nel cimento
1717
La Merope
1717
Le amazoni vinte da Ercole
1718
La preziosa ridicola
1719
Il marito giogatore, e la moglie bacchettona
1719
Ifigenia in Tauride
1719
Paride
1720
Griselda
1720
Nerone
1721
Der ehrsüchtige Arsaces
1722
The complete catalogue · 22
Artaserse
1708
Ataulfo re de' Goti, ovvero, La forza della virtù
1712
La virtù nel cimento
1717
La Merope
1717
Le amazoni vinte da Ercole
1718
La preziosa ridicola
1719
Il marito giogatore, e la moglie bacchettona
1719
Ifigenia in Tauride
1719
Paride
1720
Griselda
1720
Nerone
1721
Der ehrsüchtige Arsaces
1722
Nero
1729
Adelaide
1729
La donna nobile
1730
Massimiano
1731
Ifigenia in Aulide
1732
The Gamester
1736
Grullo and Moschetta
1737
Pourceaugnac and Grilletta
1737
Le bourgeois gentil-homme, or, Vanesio and Larinda
1737
Lo scialaquatore alla fiera
1745
Primary material
Documents and archives
institutional register
- IMSLP authority file Category:Orlandini,_Giuseppe_Maria
General reference · IMSLP
- MusicBrainz artist record for Giuseppe Maria Orlandini
General reference · MusicBrainz
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q594181: Giuseppe Maria Orlandini
General reference · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Giuseppe Maria Orlandini”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Authority records
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Hill, John Walter. Orlandini, Giuseppe Maria. 2001.
- 2.Richard Taruskin Oxford History of Western Music: 5-vol. set: 5-vol. set 2009 "... the domineering wife”) by Giuseppe Maria Orlandini (1676–1760), a Florentine composer active in Bologna who was even older than Bach the Father, and who actually spent most of his life composing opera seria to lofty “Arcadian” libretti."
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Giuntini, Francesco. 'Orlandini, Giuseppe Maria'. New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Oxford University Press, 1992).
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
Wikidata, structured authority record Q594181: Giuseppe Maria OrlandiniWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,866 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Giuseppe GiacominiPerson
- Giuseppe GiordaniPerson
- Giuseppe JannaconiPerson
- Giuseppe LilloPerson
- Giuseppe MartucciPerson
- Giuseppe Matteo AlbertiPerson
- Giuseppe MillicoPerson
- Giuseppe ModugnoPerson
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