First edition of a fundamental treatise of Enlightened thought on opera and the most important work on theatre in Italy during this era. Stefano Arteaga calls him "the best of those who have so far come to light" on the subject of musical and theatrical theory. In three parts Antonio Planelli (1737-1803) treats the stage, dance and music, referring to Vico, Diderot and D'Alembert, Algarotti, Gluck's Alceste and arguing against the style of the Bourbon court. The author was just 33 and still a student when this work first appeared. He later became more involved in mineralogy and was appointed director of the Mineralogical Museum of Naples. A modern edition of the present work appeared in 1981.
Repair to the foot of the half-title. Title-page slightly spotted. Otherwise in good condition. Biographical dictionary of Italians 84 (2015); Scheurleer I, p. 139; not in Hirsch; for the author: Stefano Arteaga, Rivoluzioni del teatro musicale italiano, Venezia, 1783. vol. 1, p. 219.