Book excerpt: A pre-condition for the selection of the case studies was that they elicited at least "successo di stima" in more than one city, and that they were favourbly judged by the critics, most importantly by Filippo Filippi. The use of musical forms in the service of drama, most importantly "La Solita Forma", was of paramount importance and will be emphasized in the case studies and supported by the many musical examples from the unjustly forgotten operas. - Jehoash Hirshberg is Professor Emeritus at the Musicology Department, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. His research fields have included the music of the 14th century, the Italian solo concerto at the time of Vivaldi, with a joint book with Simon McVeigh. In the field of and history of Israeli art music he published "Music in the Jewish Community of Palestine 1880-1948" (OUP, 1995)