But the beauty and charm of the idea compassed its own ruin; for, being but a formal procedure, it did not equally suit every situation; indeed, it may readily be understood that there must have been very many occasions when it was little short of absurd, for stage purposes, to go twice through the same emotional aspects and crises. In the operas, and in many of the oratorios of our own master, Handel, we may hear, and perhaps it may be confessed, be wearied by this inevitable repetition; for the sense of appreciation in music is readier than it used to be, and the more truthfully dramatic music of later generations tends to render almost intolerable a long, unchanged recapitulation of something already heard. But apart from its dramatic unfitness, the real mischief of the _Da Capo_ Aria lay in the fact that it attracted too much attention from the plot. Each of the principal singers in the caste demanded that he or she should have at least one example to sing, whether it suited the exigencies of the situation or no. The audience went to the opera house, not to hear an opera performed, but rather to delight in a series of bravura airs, and exercises in vocal agility, performed by popular singers. The real origin of opera was lost sight of, dramatic considerations were practically ignored, and the performance became of a lyrical, rather than of a dramatic, nature. [Sidenote: =Gluck 1714-1787=] Now Gluck, curiously enough, had written many operas on this plan before it occurred to him to try to reform it; but his artistic nature at last revolted against the absurdities of works of this type, successful though he had been in the production of such. After much thought and labour he set himself the task of remodelling the music, in a manner which can best be explained by quoting his own words, written in the prefix to the score of _Alceste_:— [Sidenote: =Gluck’s explanation of his Reforms=]