Cesti is known principally as a composer of operas. The most celebrated of these were "La Dori" (Innsbruck, 1657), "Il pomo d'oro" (Vienna, 1668) and "Orontea" (1656). "Il pomo d'oro" ("The Golden Apple") was written for the wedding in Vienna of Emperor Leopold I in 1666, and first performed in 1668, in a famously lavish production. It was far more elaborate than contemporary Venetian operas, including a large orchestra, numerous choruses, and various mechanical devices used to stage things like gods descending from heaven ("deus ex machina"), naval battles, and storms.