In addition to the singers and musicians who form the core of the company, its production requires scenery and costumes and sometimes dancers and non-singing actors.
[4] The earliest operas were privately performed and financed by the noble families who commissioned them, often to mark great court occasions.
Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena, the wife of Cosimo II de' Medici and the mother of the bride, took an active role in the planning of the production.
Performances of L'Andromeda in 1637 by librettist Benedetto Ferrari and composer Francesco Manelli marked the theatre's first commercially produced opera.
The key figure in the actual production of the operas was the impresario, who assembled the singers, musicians and creative team and made the business and artistic decisions.