Armida

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Fictional character created by Torquato Tasso

title: "Armida" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["female-characters-in-literature", "fictional-characters-who-use-magic", "literary-characters-introduced-in-the-1580s", "torquato-tasso-characters"] description: "Fictional character created by Torquato Tasso" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armida" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Fictional character created by Torquato Tasso ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Gregorio_Lazzarini_-_Rinaldo_and_Armida.jpg" caption="''Rinaldo and Armida,'' [[Gregorio Lazzarini]] circa 1690." alt=""] ::

Armida is the fictional character of a Saracen sorceress, created by the Italian late Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso.

Description

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Giovanni_Battista_Tiepolo_-Rinaldo_Enchanted_by_Armida-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" caption="''Rinaldo Enchanted by Armida'', [[Giovanni Battista Tiepolo]]." alt=""] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/The_Rose_from_Armida's_Garden_by_Marie_Spartali_Stillman_(1894).jpg" caption="The Rose from Armida's Garden by [[Marie Spartali Stillman]] (1894)"] ::

In Tasso's epic Jerusalem Delivered (), Rinaldo is a fierce and determined warrior who is also honorable and handsome. Armida has been sent to stop the Christians from completing their mission and is about to murder the sleeping soldier, but instead she falls in love. She creates an enchanted garden where she holds him a lovesick prisoner. Eventually Charles and Ubaldo, two of his fellow Crusaders, find him and hold a shield to his face, so he can see his image and remember who he is. Rinaldo barely can resist Armida's pleadings, but his comrades insist that he return to his Christian duties. At the close of the poem, when the pagans have lost the final battle, Rinaldo, remembering his promise to be her champion, prevents her from giving way to her suicidal impulses and offers to restore her to her lost throne. She gives in at this and like the other Saracen woman, Clorinda, earlier in the piece, becomes a Christian and his "handmaid".

Many painters and composers were inspired by Tasso's tale. The works that resulted often added or subtracted an element; Tasso himself continued to edit the story for years. In some versions, Armida is converted to Christianity, in others, she rages and destroys her own enchanted garden.

She occupies a place in the literature of abandoned women such as the tragic Dido, who committed suicide, and the evil Circe, whom Odysseus abandoned to return home, but she is considered by many to be more human and thus more compelling and sympathetic than either of them. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Armide.JPG" caption="''Armida'' by [[Jacques Blanchard]], [[Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes]]." alt=""] ::

In opera

The story of Armida and Rinaldo has been the basis for a number of operas:

On 1 May 2010, Rossini's Armida was performed and broadcast live to theaters around the world in the series MetLive in HD.

Johannes Brahms composed a cantata entitled Rinaldo based on the story.[[File:Willem van Mieris 001.jpg|thumbnail|Rinaldo and Armida, [[Willem van Mieris]] (1709).]]

Armida as a ballet

In film

  • The anthology film Aria includes a ten-minute segment Jean-Luc Goddard directed that is a modern day, loosely based, version of Armide.

Gallery

File:Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 086.jpg|Rinaldo and Armida, by Tiepolo 1755. File:Rinaldo and Armida by Gerard Hoet.jpg|Rinaldo and Armida, by Gerard Hoet File:Charles Errard, Renaud abandonnant Armide.jpg|Charles Errard: Renaud abandonnant Armide, Rinaldo abandoning Armida File:Colombel - Rinaldo abandoning Armida.jpg|Nicolas Colombel - Rinaldo abandoning Armida File:Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807) - Armida in Vain Endeavours with Her Entreaties to Prevent Rinaldo's Departure - 88029297 - Kenwood House.jpg|Armida in Vain Endeavours with Her Entreaties to Prevent Rinaldo's Departure by Angelica Kauffman, 1813 File:(Venice) Rinaldo and Armida - Francesco Hayez - gallerie Accademia Venice.jpg|Rinaldo and Armida by Francesco Hayez, 1813

References

References

  1. "Rossini: Armida".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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