Geminiano Giacomelli (1692-1740), like many other composers of his time, enjoyed wide popularity during his lifetime thanks to his operatic endeavors and was later forgotten, a victim of the rapid changes in vocal taste and style. Giacomelli’s theatrical writing is full of wit, invention and melodic flair, and there is, at least, an honest attempt in the portrayal of the characters’ emotions. The writing is very much that of his time, focusing on the practice of full belcanto in all his glory.

Our selection, encompassing the period from 1729 to 1735, tries to display not only Giacomelli’s “lively imagination”, but also the wide spectrum of affetti from which the opera seria of the time usually profited. In fact, the eleven arias used here (accompanied by some sinfonias) depict a various number of feelings and situations, as well as several different styles: a colourful, varied series of arias ranging from pathetic to furious, from sentimental to proud, from optimistic to dramatic.