Haydn’s opera Orlando paladino was performed on 6 December 1782 on the occasion of the name-day of Prince Nikolaus von Eszterházy in the opera house at Schloß Eszterháza. It was an immediate success, followed by twenty further performances in Eszterháza before a triumphal tour of European theatres with performances in more than twenty cities.Since the time of the Minnesingers, the subject of the warrior Roland, a (historically inaccurate) nephew of Charlemagne, had been a popular literary model.