Question: Which opera seria by Handel was created first, Orlando or Alcina?
Context: 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. Orlando (HWV 31) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel written for the King's Theatre in London in 1733.  The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's "L'Orlando" after Ludovico Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso", which was also the source of Handel's operas "Alcina" and "Ariodante".  More an artistic than a popular success at its first performances, "Orlando" is today recognised as a masterpiece. Opera seria (] ; plural: "opere serie"; usually called "dramma per musica" or "melodramma serio") is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770.  The term itself was rarely used at the time and only attained common usage once "opera seria" was becoming unfashionable and beginning to be viewed as a historical genre.  The popular rival to "opera seria" was "opera buffa," the 'comic' opera that took its cue from the improvisatory commedia dell'arte. Ezio ("Aetius", HWV 29) is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel to a libretto by Metastasio.  Metastasio's libretto was partly inspired by Jean Racine's play "Britannicus".  The same libretto had already been set by many other composers first of all Nicola Porpora who managed to preempt the official Rome premiere of Pietro Auletta's setting for 26 December 1728 with his own version (of a slightly edited copy of the libretto) for Venice on 20 November, a month earlier.  The libretto continued to be set and reset for another 50 years, including two versions of "Ezio" by Gluck.  Handel's "Ezio" is considered one of the purest examples of opera seria with its absence of vocal ensembles. Imeneo (alternative title: Hymen, HWV 41) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel.  The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Silvio Stampiglia's "Imeneo".  Handel had begun composition in September 1738, but did not complete the score until 1740.  The opera received its first performance at the Lincoln's Inn Fields in London on 22 November 1740, and received another performance on 13 December.  Handel then revised the score, and this revised version received concert performances in Dublin, on 24 and 31 March 1742. Riccardo primo, re d'Inghilterra ("Richard the First, King of England", HWV 23) is an opera seria in three acts written by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music (1719) .  The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio Rolli, after Francesco Briani's "Isacio tiranno", set by Antonio Lotti in 1710.  Handel wrote the work for the Royal Academy's 1726–27 opera season, and also as homage to the newly crowned George II and the nation where Handel had just received citizenship. Siroe, re di Persia ("Siroes, King of Persia", HWV 24), is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel.  It was his 12th opera for the Royal Academy of Music and was written for the sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni.  The opera uses an Italian-language libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Metastasio's "Siroe".  Like many of Metastasio's libretti, it was also set by Handel's contemporaries, e.g. by Leonardo Vinci, Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Adolph Hasse (see Hasse's "Siroe").  Pasquale Errichelli's setting of the libretto (see Errichelli's "Siroe") premiered in the year of Handel's death. George Frideric Handel's operas comprise 42 musical dramas that were written between 1705 and 1741 in various genres.  He began composing operas in Germany and then for a brief time in Italy to modest success.  It was not until he moved to England that he found great success in the genre.  His first opera in England, "Rinaldo" (1711), was met with enthusiasm, and several more Italian operas soon followed.  However, Handel's place as the central figure of opera in England during the eighteenth century was not solidified until, under the influence of Thomas Arne, he began composing large-scale works with English language texts.  Though almost all his English language works are technically oratorios and not operas, several of them, such as "Semele" (1743), have become an important part of the opera repertoire.  Handel's first opera (opera seria - serious Italian opera) was "Almira" (1705). Flavio, re de' Longobardi ("Flavio, King of the Lombards", HWV 16) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel.  The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Matteo Noris's "Flavio Cuniberto".  It was Handel's fourth full-length opera for the Royal Academy of Music.  Handel had originally entitled the opera after the character of Emilia in the opera. Teseo ("Theseus", HWV 9; ] ) is an opera seria with music by George Frideric Handel, the only Handel opera that is in five acts.  The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Philippe Quinault's "Thésée".  It was Handel's third London opera, intended to follow the success of "Rinaldo" after the unpopular "Il pastor fido".
Answer: Orlando