Orlando: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

This article is about the Orlando character that appears mainly in Renaissance and Baroque litterature and music, for other uses of Orlando (e.g. by Virginia Woolf, a city in the US, etc...) see: Orlando

Orlando is the Italian equivalent of the French Roland, appearing as a central character in a sequence of verse romances from the fifteenth century onwards, including Morgante by Luigi Pulci, Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo, and Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto.

The name Orlando/Roland goes back to a Germanic origin, and is said to mean "One who is famous throughout the land"

The Orlando narrative inspired several composers, amongst which Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel, who composed an Italian opera with Orlando in the title role, see: Orlando.

Ensembles like the Orlando Consort took their name from the Orlando character.