Geminiano Giacomelli (1692-1740)
Cesare in Egitto (1735)
Giulio Cesare – Arianna Venditelli (mezzo)
Cleopatra – Emőke Baráth (mezzo)
Cornelia – Margherita Maria Sala (contralto)
Tolomeo – Valerio Contaldo (tenor)
Achilla – Filippo Mineccia (alto)
Lepido – Federico Fiorio (alto)
Accademia Bizatina/Ottavio Dantone
rec. live 3-11, August 2024, Innsbruck Landestheater, Austria
Alpha Classics 1141 [2 CDs: 163]

The composer Geminiano Giacomelli is little known in the classical music world and even among Baroque enthusiasts his works have been encountered only sporadically. My one previous encounter with his music was in Vivica Geneaux’s excellent 2002 recital disc “Arias for Farinelli” on the Harmonia Mundi label (review). Now along comes what is possibly the first full opera recording of a Giacomelli work with Cesare in Egitto, which was composed for Milan and first staged in 1735. It disappeared from the stages soon afterwards.

In this opera the composer reveals himself to be a fairly accomplished writer of Baroque arias. This is an old fashioned style of opera-seria; there are none of the little innovations of style with which Mozart sought to inject and elevate the form in his opera-serie. Giacomelli’s opera strikes me as little more than a succession of elaborate showpiece arias, albeit wonderfully energized as they are. Any one of Giacomelli’s arias are an example of what Richard Strauss satirized so perfectly in Zerbinetta’s elaborate scene in Ariadne auf Naxos. Strauss, however, imbued Zerbinetta with a heart and soul which is revealed in the midst of the display, whereas Giacomelli can only provide display for its own sake. In the end, this opera, one of many from the same era about Julius Caesar, lacks the emotional range and variety that one finds in the music of Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1724), or for that matter Carl Heinrich Graun’s Cesare e Cleopatra (1742), which is also a more musically interesting take on this familiar story. Taken on its own terms, Giacomelli’s opera can offer a couple of hours of vocal acrobatics that will still provide more than a little pleasure to lovers of Baroque opera.

Ottavio Dantone is the music director of the Innsbruck Early Music festival where this recording was made. He gives his all to the rediscovery of this long-dormant opera. His ensemble, the Accademia Bizantina show they are a period orchestra to be reckoned with.  His conducting is characterized by a strong rhythmic impetus which gives this opera a feeling of energy throughout. This is immediately apparent at the commencement of the brief overture, where an intense energy is revealed. String articulation is clear and with crisp attack. The music progresses along at a zippy pace. With this type of music, one really could not extract more from it than what is on display on this recording.

Vocally the cast is first rate. Chief among the singers is Adrianna Venditelli’s Caesar. She sings the role with a vibrant, concentrated timbre that is very reminiscent of the young Joyce DiDonato. Venditelli proves herself to be very adept at the coloratura required of her. Emőke Baráth’s Cleopatra is of an equal standard to her Caesar. Her warm, sensuous mezzo copes beautifully with Cleopatra’s arias. Giacomelli’s tessitura lies a bit high for her which makes one wonder if this role was really intended for a soprano. Even so Barath leaves nothing wanting in the role.

Filippo Mineccia is a find among the new generation of counter tenors. He sings the role of Lepido, the Roman consul who falls in love with Cornelia. Mineccia has a fine musical sound which is just a little weak in the lower register but blooms splendidly in the upper regions, where one is almost convinced that he is a true soprano. His performance on these CDs is generally quite accomplished. His Cornelia is sung on this set by Margherita Sala, a singer who impressed me much on Franco Fagioli’s recent recording of Messiah for the Chateau de Versailles label. Giacomelli’s Cornelia is a stronger character than Handel’s more passive characterization of Pompey’s widow. Sala’s rich contralto fulfills all of the music’s demands with impressive tone and virtuosity.

This leaves only Valerio Contaldo’s contribution as Tolomeo (Ptolemy) to be addressed. The fact that Giacomelli gives the role to a tenor rather than a castrato (as in Handel’s version) means that the rival ruler of Egypt has a much more threatening presence in this opera, at least when listening to an audio recording, although in a theatre this would not necessarily be the case. Contaldo has a lovely lyric tenor which for this role sounds rather light both in presence and volume, almost a “tenorino” sound. He does sing Ptolemy’s machinations with fine attention to detail but his attempt to convey the wildness of the character would emerge more fully with a tenor of more substantial tonal weight. I have no doubt that, in a role more congenial to his talent, his voice would really shine.

Alpha presents the recording, a single act per disc, in an attractive-looking box with individual cardboard sleeves for each CD. The booklet contains a decent article about the composer and the opera but falls down in not including a synopsis of the opera. As the characters and situations vary somewhat from those in Handel’s Guilio Cesare this was not a wise decision. There is a full Italian text with English and French translations included. While a lot of time and attention has been poured into this mostly successful first recording, I can’t quite get past the impression that Giacomelli’s opera doesn’t fully deserve such an honour. Perhaps like Boris Karloff’s Mummy these old bones were best left undisturbed.

Mike Parr

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