'Italian Opera and European Theatre, 1680-1720

What emerges from this study, is a picture of 18th-century opera as a literary work as well as a theatrical and musical event in its challenging and variable interactions of poetry, music, gesture and decor. This is illuminated by an exploration of both the context of ideas in which opera flourished and the aims that animated those who where involved with its existence - poets, composers, performers, dramatists, impresari, patrons, audiences - in an attempt to penetrate the secrets of its appeal, of that tacit agreement between authors and audiences, that made it possible for dramatist, musicians and stage designers to manipulate spectator's emotions and reactions as successfully as many sources document.