Francesco Saverio Geminiani (1687-1762), born in Lucca, began his study at an early age with his father, but his most important lessons followed in his years with the great Roman Master, Arcangelo Corelli. Composition lessons with Alessandro Scarlatti helped inspire and solidify his craft. In 1714 Geminiani settled in London, where he quickly gained fame as an ensemble player, concert violinist, and teacher. Here he became friends with Handel and led the orchestra during many performances together. Geminiani enjoyed great success not only in London, but also in Ireland where he spent a considerable amount of time. In 1760 he settled in Dublin, dying there in somewhat impoverished circumstances in 1762. Geminiani's playing was distinguished by it's great expressiveness, richness of dynamic coloring, extraordinary liveliness, and a strong temperament. Tartini tellingly called Geminiani "il furibondo" - the furious one! Among his most significant contributions to the Baroque concerto repertoire are his Concerti grossi Opp. 2 and 3, published in 1732 and 1733 respectively. These sets each consist of six concertos and follow the model established by Corelli, particularly his Concerti grossi Op.6. However, Geminiani's works are more expansive and harmonically adventurous. They often feature intricate contrapuntal writing and dramatic contrasts between the concertino (the group of solo instruments) and the ripieno (full ensemble), a hallmark of the concerto grosso form. Op.2 is notable for it's lyrical elegance and refined structure, while Op.3 reveals a bolder, more expressive style, perhaps reflecting Geminiani's growing independence from Corelli's shadow. These works were not only designed for public concert performance but also for teaching and domestic music-making, showing Geminiani's skill in balancing artistic depth with accessibility. Geminiani's Concerti Grossi were well-received in his time and continued to be admired for their rich textures and expressive power. They exemplify the late Baroque ideal of merging virtuosity with emotional intensity. Today, they remain a staple of early music ensembles, highlighting Geminiani's role as a key figure in transmitting and transforming the Italian Baroque tradition for an international audience. Played by the Italian elite group L'Archicembalo, who previously recorded, to great critical acclaim, the String Concertos by Vivaldi for Brilliant Classics.

Why Francesco Geminiani is not mentioned these days alongside other great masters of the era of Baroque music is a bit of a mystery. Together with Corelli and Handel her was one of the composers who made a great career for himself in eighteenth-century Great Britain. Concerto Koln has not forgotten him, on the contrary: the ensemble pays homage to him as one of the true greats. And now the musicians have chosen their favourite pieces from his entire oeuvre and called it Geminiani's Quintessence. Concerto Koln has chosen works from all categories of his work for this project, with bassoonist Lorenzo Alpert taking a leading role in selecting those rare works "which we think are the loveliest and most accomplished of his compositions." The fact that Geminiani left a host of teaching manuals about playing technique and interpretation was decisive for the ensemble's interpretation of the works. "These rich sources of information made it possible for us to employ some surprising and unusual stylistic elements in our readings of his Concerti Grossi," explains Alpert. "They are what led to his special and very personal 'Quinta Essentia'" which will be available on CD and double vinyl.

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762), son of the violinist Giuliano Geminiani. After a season at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples and a two-year spell at the Cappella Palatina in Lucca, Francesco left his homeland for good in 1714 to pursue a career in London, Dublin and Paris. The flourishing public concert life and optimal publishing conditions in London were attracting a great many Italian musicians, who were adored by the English public, achieving cult-like status - Arcangelo Corelli most of all. As a pupil of Corelli's, Geminiani inherited that legacy, while at the same time promoting an independent development in violin playing. Geminiani not only skilfully used the cult of Corelli and his own privileged position as an Italian musician to market himself; he also cultivated close contacts with powerful patrons, made a name for himself as an event organiser and painting dealer, and published several treatises. Among those, his The Art of Playing on the Violin, which he published at his own expense in 1751, was pioneering. He was responding to a pronounced culture of violin enthusiasts, whose great demand caused a proliferation of amateur schools and rudimentary music compendiums in England. Geminiani's treatise, however, was one of the first in Europe meeting professional standards. It differs significantly in scope and conception from other treatises of the mid-18th century from German-speaking countries, focusing intently on seeking the true nature of musical expression as the highest purpose of music. This is also reflected in the term 'Ornaments of Expression' coined by Geminiani to describe ornaments. He lists a rich selection of ornaments in another method, Treatise of good taste in the Art of Musick, published in 1749, designed to help the musician practise the art of ornamentation and variation. This treatise, along with his Rules for Playing in a true Taste published in 1746, include arrangements and variations based on well-known Scots tunes. The fashion of choosing simple folk songs as the basis for compositions was also utilised by other Italian composers in order to meet the needs and preferences of the English public. Geminiani's variations uniquely combine the Italian art of variation, inspired by the example of Arcangelo Corelli, with the simple grace of Scottish folk songs and ornamentation techniques developed under the influence of many years spent in Paris. The compositions contained in Geminiani's treatises go far beyond mere didactic use. His skilful, idiosyncratic use of harmony, rhythm and ornamentation tells the story of a highly trained, experimental and unconventional artist moving between nations and compositional styles. Other information: - Recorded April 2021 in Gartensaal, Germany - Bilingual booklet in English and German contains liner notes and profiles of the musicians - Francesco Saverio Geminiani was born in Lucca. He began his study at an early age with his father, but his most important lessons followed in his years with the great Roman Master, Arcangelo Corelli. Composition lessons with Alessandro Scarlatti helped inspire and solidify his craft. In 1714 Geminiani settled in London, where he quickly gained fame as an ensemble player, concert violinist, and teacher. Here he became friends with Handel and led the orchestra during many performances together. Geminiani enjoyed great success not only in London, but also in Ireland where he spent a considerable amount of time, settling in Dublin in 1760. - Geminiani's playing was distinguished by it's great expressiveness, richness of dynamic coloring, extraordinary liveliness, and a strong temperament. Tartini called Geminiani "il furibondo" - the furious one! - One of Geminiani's most enduring legacies is his treatise The Art of Playing on the Violin, published in 1751. This influential work is one of the earliest comprehensive guides on violin technique and interpretation. Unlike previous violin tutors, which often focused on basic fingering and bowing, Geminiani's treatise provided detailed insights into expressive playing, ornamentation, and the subtleties of articulation. It reflects the evolving style of violin playing in the 18th century, emphasizing musicality over mere technical proficiency. It covers topics such as bowing techniques, left-hand positioning, and vibrato, offering exercises to develop precision and expressiveness. He also stresses the importance of dynamic contrast and phrasing, essential elements in Baroque performance practice. - Played on period instruments by Anna Kaiser (violin), Johannes Berger (cello) and Solrun Franzdottir Wechner (harpsichord).

Geminiani: Concerti Grossi tratti dalle Op. 3, 1 e 5 di Arca

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Geminiani's Sonatas op.5 are particularly significant, marking milestones in my musical journey. What fascinates me about Geminiani is his propensity for unpredictable, asymmetrical and improvisatory style - both as a composer and as a performer. This inspired our own improvisatory approach to ornamentation, continuo realization and timing during the recording session. Geminiani's The Art of Playing the Guitar contains the most comprehensive example of basso continuo realization on the cello, a practice I encouraged in this recording.

No other master equaled him in tone; the sweetness and singing of his violin sound; his fine and elegant taste; his perfection in tempo and intonation (...)". What contemporaries attest to the violin playing of Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) applies without restriction to his compositions, which are still far too little known. He attached less importance to virtuoso effects � la Vivaldi, but rather to the "melodic grace and adornment" � la Corelli, so much appreciated in his adopted country England. Some of the delicate chamber music treasures are presented here by the Ensemble Apollo's Cabinet.

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Acclaimed for their interpretation of Vivaldi and Barriere's sonatas, Bruno Cocset's Les Basses Reunies return to Italian 18th century music in this fantastic new recording. The programmed, comprising sonatas by Francesco Geminiani, calls upon a distinguished guest: theorist and lutist Luca Pianca. Also featured under Cocset is Bertrand Cuiller (harpsichord), Mathurin Martharel (cello), and Richard Myron (double bass).

GEMINIANI Selected harpsichord works • Hank Knox (hpd) • EARLY-MUSIC.COM 7772 (62:46)


When we think of Baroque composers for the harpsichord, certain names spring to mind: Rameau, François Couperin, Domenico Scarlatti, Bach, and Handel; perhaps Duphly, Seixas, Louis Couperin, a few others. Geminiani is not among these. He was celebrated during his lifetime as a composer, a theorist, a violinist with an unusually sweet and beguiling tone that served him well, according to one account, in his final concert, two years before his death at the age of 74. But what this album presents is harpsichord music by Geminiani.


These are arrangements of movements drawn from sonatas originally written for violin and accompaniment. The op. 1 collection that supplies two of the pieces on this album was first published in 1716, and the op. 2 collection that furnishes one cut was transcribed from concerti grossi published in 1732. All but one of the remaining 10 selections (a minuet, described in the liner notes as deriving from an unknown source, presumably part of the group of minuets by the composer published in various 18th-century anthologies) come from Geminiani’s op. 4 of 1739. The keyboard arrangements appeared in 1743, both in Paris and London, as Pièces de clavecin tirées des diffrens ouvrages de Mr. F. Geminiani adaptées par luy même . These would prove popular, especially in conservative England, where some were reprinted as late as 1778. Indeed, Geminiani was to remain a name to conjure with in British musical circles long after his star faded elsewhere. As late as 1792, the brilliant amateur composer John Marsh mentions in his diaries a public concert in which a talented friend included Marsh’s own organ transcription of a Geminiani “violin concerto.”


The arrangements are densely idiomatic, surprisingly so when one considers both their origins for violin and continuo, as well as the composer’s lack of known expertise on the instrument. Knox speculates that it was in 1742, while arranging for the publication of his music in Paris “drawn partly by the superiority of French music engravers” (though not mentioning how the composer no doubt wished as well to secure some financial restitution before the notorious Parisian publishers pirated his new publications) that Geminiani heard Duphly, Daquin, and Rameau in the salon of Madame Duhalley and her daughter. He might have learned something from these recitals, but it’s equally likely that he kept abreast of French developments through these same composers’ publications. In any case, the result is a fluently professional manner that moves easily between the styles of the French and Italian schools, as in the sonata movements marked tendrement and vivement of op. 4/5 (the latter with overtones of Domenico Scarlatti, who also puts in an appearance in the gigue marked vivement of op. 4/4). This is imaginative, at times fanciful music that displays a gift to charm, while neglecting nothing in the way of technical or structural finesse.


Hank Knox manages the dual legacy of the French and Italian schools with ease. He is flexible where flexibility is clearly called for, as in the op. 4/8 movement marked amoureusement , and just as solidly rhythmic as required in the modérément from op. 4/6, or the gayment from op. 4/1. The fugato movement from op. 1/6 finds something between the two, both regular enough to maintain forward motion while phrasing elastically to highlight the harmonic underpinnings of each important entry. Technically there are no problems, tempos are well selected, and an understanding of each piece’s salient musical points is apparent. Knox’s sympathetic treatment of the tendrement from op. 4/5 gives me hope we’ll at some point hear his Rameau.


In the manner of ornamentation, Geminiani, like François Couperin, was explicit in defining appropriate ornamentation of “good taste,” that he stated in one of his treatises was a matter of “expressing with Strength and Delicacy the Intention of the Composer.” He described 14 ornaments, as well as acciaccature , a dissonant note in a chord that is rolled upward or played simultaneously. He wrote out ornamented changes in repeated passages as well, supplying figurations or variations to the treble. Knox wisely chooses to follow Geminiani, or where no ornamentation is provided to proceed along similar lines.


Sound is good, with close miking of a sweet but bright instrument created by Jacob and Abraham Kirckmann in 1772, the earliest surviving harpsichord by the uncle-and-nephew builders. It includes an innovative “machine stop” that instantly changes between one and all registers. (Jacob Kirckmann was to prove less amenable to innovation when it came to installing Adam Walker’s so-called “Celestina stop” in a new harpsichord ordered by Thomas Jefferson 14 years later, because he felt the resin used on the silk thread ultimately destroyed the instrument’s entire tone. But the amiable Jefferson, as usual, knew his own mind, and the Celestina stop was installed.)


I’ve only one minor quibble. In his liner notes to this release, Knox offers the fact that Geminiani refused the post of Master of State Music in Ireland in evidence that the composer avoided permanent institutional positions. Knox may not have been aware that it was made conditional upon Geminiani converting from Roman Catholicism to Church of England. In any case, Geminiani never lacked for patrons in his adopted land, and seemed to have an instinctive gift for getting along with others that several of his other Italian violinist colleagues (including Veracini and Vivaldi) lacked.


Recommended? But of course. This is fine, highly characterized music, excellently played. More, if you please.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

GEMINIANI: Concerti Grossi, Vol. 1

The Enchanted Forest is very interesting late-Baroque material. It has a rather atmospheric opening followed by a series of movements, many of which have a dance-like feel, reminding us of the work’s ballet origins.

After taking London by storm, not only as a violinist with a dazzling technique, but also as a composer of immensely popular concerti grossi and violin sonatas, Francesco Geminiani began to see his fortunes wane. As one of Corelli’s students who adopted a style very much in line with his, Geminiani was assured a warm welcome and many open doors. Eventually, the public’s tastes began to change and so did Geminiani’s style. The public and composer’s changes didn’t necessarily follow the same directions; consequently, Geminiani’s later works were not as well received. Musical styles deemed modern in the 18th century can be re-evaluated 200-plus years later using different criteria. They no longer sound alarmingly different to our ears. In his op. 7 concerti grossi Geminiani clearly had begun to develop his own musical voice and show a departure from Corelli’s style. The roles played by the middle voices are expanded, and Geminiani espoused the use of brilliant ornamentation. The inclusion of winds (optional) in op. 7/6 is noteworthy, as is the rather unorthodox structure of several of the numbers. It’s been suggested that Geminiani may have had a program in mind when composing op. 7/6, as there are six sections with a variety of tempos, but efforts to confirm this have not been successful.

He did have a program in mind for his orchestral concert, The Enchanted Forest (an alternative spelling: The Inchanted Forrest); it is the closest he came to writing for the theater. The music was originally composed for a ballet pantomime performed in Paris at the Grand Theatre du Palais des Tuileries; however, it has come down to us as a Concerto for Orchestra after Tasso. (The story was derived from Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberate, which also served as the basis for the Rinaldo, Armida, and Tancredi operas.) Compared to most of Geminiani’s other compositions, The Enchanted Forest is richly orchestrated: trumpet, two flutes, two horns, two bassoons, concertino (two violins, viola, cello), strings and basso continuo. The liner notes detail the plot; however, the music is not particularly descriptive so matching music to story is conjectural at best.

As a strictly musical entity, The Enchanted Forest is very interesting late-Baroque material. It has a rather atmospheric opening followed by a series of movements, many of which have a dance-like feel, reminding us of the work’s ballet origins. La Stagione Frankfurt, a period-instrument group under Michael Schneider, has sandwiched this concert (in two parts and a finale) between the concerto grosso op. 7/6 and op. 7/4. The orchestration of the two concerti grossi includes the optional woodwinds (bassoon in No. 6, two flutes and bassoon in No. 4), which unites the material—unlike a recording released several years ago by the CBC Vancouver Orchestra under John Eliot Gardiner that rather jarringly paired The Enchanted Forest with the Vivaldi Concerto in D for two violins, RV 513.

This is a very nice recording of Geminiani’s works. The La Stagione Frankurt’s playing is lively and clean; the recorded sound is clear, letting us hear the inner voices. As indicated in the headnote, the album is titled and marketed with the title in German.

David L. Kirk, FANFARE

As champion of music from Ireland, Peter Whelan and his Irish Baroque Orchestra give a rare glimpse into a fascinating figure of the eighteenth-century Dublin music scene. Who was Rachel Baptist? Not much is known of the ‘Celebrated Black Syren’, other than she was a soprano of African descent and born in Ireland, sang regularly in Dublin, London, Liverpool, and other cities, and performed alongside famed castrato Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci. The program includes works that Baptist might have performed at the ‘Grand Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Musick’ held in 1752, including arias by Handel, Pasquali (a couple of premiere recordings), Purcell, and some additional instrumental pieces. The ‘resplendent’ Rachel Redmond (The New York Times) is the soprano.

Ruhadze plays Geminiani: the latest volume in a revelatory project breathing new life into the founding figures of the Italian violin school of the 18th century.

While Geminiani's Op. 1 collection dates from 1714, just two years after he'd settled in London, Op. 4 was published in 1739, alongside a revision of Op. 1. In the meanwhile he had become known, not only in England but across Europe, for the brilliance and imagination of his playing, which transfers itself so readily on to the pages of these sonatas. They posed the stiffest challenge to violinists of their time – perhaps only Geminiani himself could have done them full justice – and yet now they come alive under the fingers of Ruhadze with new energy in which flamboyance is balanced with grace and elegance.

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