Handel: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo

Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, an unstaged serenata composed for a ducal wedding in Naples in 1708, is not to be confused with the slightly more operatic Acis and Galatea, written in London in 1718. Both adapt a tale from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Italian work is bolder in conception and far more virtuosic than its English pastoral counterpart and features some of Handel's finest arias.