Martin Smith
BBC Editor, Network Radio & Special Projects

Tonight's web commentary was a first for Radio 3 and we are very grateful to our partners Welsh National Opera and all the singers, players and staff who helped make it happen. 

If you've enjoyed tonight's performance, it will be available to follow again for 30 days on this page in the Live Coverage tab above and via the Radio 3 website.

Even Orlando and Angelica are happy in the end, as you can see below... 

Sophie Rashbrook
Nicholas John Dramaturg, Welsh National Opera

Hope you enjoyed our commentary and the beautiful music! You can catch the show live in Birmingham on our final leg of the WNO autumn tour - 18th November at 7.15pm at the Birmingham Hippodrome - alongside other 'mad' productions this season.. Puritani and Sweeney Todd! 

Harry Fehr
Director

We thought a lot about what happens to these people when they leave this happy ending. Orlando will be back in the air, but Angelica and Medoro might be on a boat back to the United States. Maybe they’ll be torpedoed on the way back?

Ruth Smith
Handel Scholar & Author

Orlando still has to be asked to forgive Angelica and Medoro, not through Zoroastro’s arts but of his own free will. And it’s noticeable that Dorinda joins in asking him to be kind to them. To the last, she is generous; and to the last, Handel puts her on an equal footing with the supposedly superior beings of the opera.

Sophie Rashbrook
Nicholas John Dramaturg, Welsh National Opera

Every heart has found joy. Let us join in celebration! The opera ends with its only chorus, as everyone celebrates. Meanwhile, Orlando dresses himself in his splendid pilot's uniform once again, and very stylish he is too.

Rebecca Evans
Angelica

Well – everybody appears to be happy but are they really happy? Of course we need a sequel to find out but of course Medoro and Angelica are given this blessing by Orlando saying Angelica and Medoro you can now be reunited, but I have this massive guilty conscience and so does Medoro, so will they live happily ever after? I think the resolution comes from the fact that Orlando is cured, he is no longer mad… although I am sure the tendency will always be there, he is back to his flying days in the RAF, Medoro and I will probably leave and go and live very happily in my mansion in New York, Dorinda will probably live quite a lonely life and Zoroastro - he’s a successful psychiatrist. He will probably open up a practice on Harley Street and make a fortune.

Ruth Smith
Handel Scholar & Author

Senesino was such a star that he could be sure of employment, and there was competition waiting to snap him up. Which in fact happened: at the end of the Orlando run, Senesino joined the opera company set up (with his help) by aristocrats who resented Handel’s ‘domination’ of the London music scene, and he took almost all Handel’s other chief singers with him. Handel could have served up formulaic arias to showcase Senesino, guarantee box office returns, and retain his star attraction in his company. That he didn’t do that in Orlando is a mark of his determination to experiment, pushing the boundaries of musical form and expression so as to create vivid, varied, dramatic interactions of recognisably human, three-dimensional, complex characters.

Julian Perkins
Harpsichordist & Assistant Conductor

Orlando's triumphs - it's party time! Orlando finds control of himself at last. This is quite a nice line for him, as this is what he’s been yearning for for the whole opera. It’s all about internal battles and finding inner peace. I always love the final chorus – Orlando wishes Angelica and Medoro joy. There’s a wonderful moment where Dorinda invites everyone to her house in the countryside, to celebrate and forget their sorrows. ‘It’s party time at Dorinda’s!’ – she’s a potty character, I think. It all ends on a very positive note. ‘All join in praise of love and glory!’ so you can have your cake and eat it! 

As we enjoy the finale, why don't you test your opera knowledge. Can you name these Operas, based on photos of past WNO productions:

Sophie Rashbrook
Nicholas John Dramaturg, Welsh National Opera

Orlando’s guilt overwhelms him. He pushes all the hospital attendants our of the room, locking himself in. Orlando stands on his hospital bed, and makes a noose out of electrical cable in order to hang himself. The hospital staff bang on the wall but in vain. Fortunately, Angelica comes to the rescue – climbing in through the window! As Orlando declares ‘Orlando must die!’, Angelica intervenes, ‘You must live!’, stopping Orlando in his tracks as he is about to put the noose around his neck.

Sophie Rashbrook
Nicholas John Dramaturg, Welsh National Opera

Orlando is resting. Dorinda is worried that Orlando will still have violent tendencies when he awakes from his sleep. Zoroastro is confident: ‘He will be cured.’ Zoroastro says, full of confidence. Dorinda replies, ‘It would be safer to let him sleep.’

Am I asleep or awake? Who disarmed me? Where is my weapon? Orlando awakes, but is still confused. Dorinda informs him of what he has ‘done’ - all as part of Zoroastro's master plan: ‘I am afraid of becoming the next victim of your madness – like Angelica and Medoro, whom you have killed.’ Orlando is stunned to learn of his murderous activities – and shock and horror brings him to his senses. Or has it?

Zoroastro intervenes. 'It is time. Orlando will be immune to the charms of love. Powers of heaven, restore Orlando's reason.'

Zoroastro has come to restore Orlando’s reason. This is a restorative moment... In Handel’s libretto, Jupiter’s eagle descends from heaven at Zoroastro’s bidding carrying a golden cup of restorative medicine for Orlando

Ruth Smith
Handel Scholar & Author

Orlando’s violent attack on Angelica is the crisis of his madness, and now he can be soothed into sleep, balm of hurt minds, cure of madness since time immemorial. Handel had a genius for placing moments of quietness amid the rapid action of his operas: Angelica’s ‘Verdi piante’ was a pool of repose in Act 2, and this is the still heart of Act 3. Wonderful modulations in the accompaniment speak of the mystery of sleep (Handel was famous for his sleep arias), and tell us exactly where Orlando sinks into its arms (halfway through bar 12).

Julian Perkins
Harpsichordist & Assistant Conductor

These strange instruments were originally played by the Italian Castrucci brothers, who played in Handel’s orchestra. They didn’t come cheap! It’s one of those exotic instruments – but today, no one knows how it would’ve sounded. Sometimes it’s played by the viola da gamba – like in another production I played in at the Royal Opera House. In the WNO Orchestra, we do it with two viola solos, with Rosie just doing pizzicato on the cello. It’s quite sparse. It’s another of the rare moments where I’m not playing at all!