Gradually these accessories rose to the importance of separate incidents and finally to that of dramas.

But they did not lose their original literary and musical character.
In studying the development of a secular lyric drama, it is essential that we keep in mind the nature of the music employed in the dramatic ceremonials, and later in the frankly theatrical representations of the church.

The opera is a child of Italy and its direct ancestors must be sought there.

The first secular musical plays of France far antedated the birth of the primitive lyric drama of Italy, and it requires something more than scientific devotion to establish a close connection between the two.

But the early French ecclesiastical play is directly related to that of Italy.