A detailed study of the modus operandi of a librettist; his consideration of the practical aspects of stagecraft his changing thoughts on the motivation of the characters his decision to alter lines of text and even to add or subtract entire scenes for the sake of the dramatic effect.

William C. Holmes: William C. Holmes (1928–99), a scholar of 17th-century music who edited and wrote about operas by Cesti and Scarlatti before turning to the works of Verdi, was professor of music at the University of California, Irvine (1968–94). His Opera Observed: Views of a Florentine Impresario in the Early Eighteenth Century was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1993. Music Observed: Studies in Memory of William C. Holmes