Brooke's growing experience as an opera manager is shown by the fact that her preparations were much further advanced in the summer of 1775 than they had been the previous year. The major stars, Gabrielli, Rauzzini and the new buffo Trebbi, were all under contract. One important matter remained to be resolved – the programme. Well aware of the lack of good opera buffa repertoire in London, Brooke took active steps to seek out new works from the best composers in this genre. The continuing popularity of Piccinni's operas in London made a new work from this source a very attractive proposition, but she would have known, as a result of Burney's earlier approach on behalf of Hobart, that it was unlikely the composer would agree to make the journey to London. Paisiello's works were not yet known to London audiences, but his music had greatly impressed Burney during his Italian journey. After first hearing Le trame per amore in Naples in 1770, he wrote: ‘it was full of fire and fancy, the ritornels abounding in new passages, and the vocal parts in elegant and simple melodies, such as might be remembered and carried away after the first hearing, or be performed in private by a small band’. The strength of this recommendation from her knowledgeable adviser was enough to persuade Brooke to open negotiations with the composer, with a view to bringing him to the King's Theatre the season after next.