Which opera seria by Handel was created first, Orlando or Alcina?
Alcina Alcina (HWV 34) is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of "L'isola di Alcina", an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after during his travels in Italy. Partly altered for better conformity, the story was originally taken from Ludovico Ariosto's "Orlando furioso" (like those of the Handel operas "Orlando" and "Ariodante"), an epic poem. The opera contains several musical sequences with opportunity for dance: these were composed for dancer Marie Sallé.
Nicola Francesco Haym Nicola Francesco Haym (6 July 1678 – 31 July 1729) was an Italian opera librettist, composer, theatre manager and performer, and numismatist. He is best remembered for adapting texts into libretti for the London operas of George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini. Libretti that he provided for Handel included those for "Giulio Cesare", "Ottone", "Flavio", "Tamerlano", "Rodelinda", and several others; for Bononcini, he produced two, "Calfurnia" and "Astianatte".