In "Opera Observed", William C. Holmes provides a look behind the scenes into the world of early 18th-century Italian opera. Based on a store of recovered documents, mainly the personal papers of Luca Casimiro degli Albizzi, this social history illustrates the complexities of staging opera in the 1720s and '30s: the role of the impresario in planning an operatic season, financial and artistic difficulties, the importance of patronage, the power of individual singers and composers, considerations of set design, and the practice of altering librettos. A member of an illustrious Florentine family, Albizzi (1664-1745) served as one of the principal impresarios of the Pergola, Florence's earliest and greatest opera theatre. He also carried on an active correspondence with impresarios in other cities, freely giving his advice on various economic and artistic concerns.