The singing by different performers in different languages at the same time is another defunct custom; so little regard was paid to the importance of the libretto that it used to be quite a common occurrence for each person on the stage to sing in whatever language came easiest to him or her; on the Continent the airs would perhaps be sung in Italian and the recitatives in German, with an inconsistency that is almost incredible; when, however, agility in vocalization was the chief attraction in operatic representation, it is to be presumed that intelligibility of utterance was not an important consideration. [Sidenote: =Stereotyped Casts=] To the same cause must be attributed the extraordinary fact that the _dramatis personæ_ were the same for nearly all operas during a certain period. Whatever the story or plot to be unfolded, it was essential that there should be six principal characters—a high soprano, a mezzo, and a contralto, a male soprano, a tenor, and a bass; of course slight modifications in the character of the voices was occasionally allowed, but the main lines followed were as above. And whether it suited the story or not, each of these good people expected to have an important air to sing in each act, and woe betide the unhappy composer who wrote a more attractive piece for one of them than was supplied to his or her rival singer. From this stereotyped form of bondage, with its horrible artificiality, opera is now free; and it is due to the observance of these conventions that the works of Handel and other composers, who wrote really good music, are absolutely dead. Apart from the construction in the form of the opera, there have been from time to time interesting experiments made with regard to the housing of that integral portion of it—the orchestra. Wagner’s innovation, the placing of the band out of sight and below the stage, although it necessitated the increase of the string sections, has proved on the whole good; other designs have been the entire covering in of the orchestra with a thin transparent substance, which has had the effect of subduing the sound, but which has also proved disastrously hot for the poor players. One idea emanated from the New York Metropolitan, when Mr. Conried suggested the placing of the brass players upon a movable platform, which could move up or down at will; if it is desired that their instruments shall sound prominently they will be raised into the air; if, on the other hand, a subdued effect is required, they will be lowered a few feet; a long crescendo will, presumably, be effected by a gradual elevation of this movable floor! One has yet to wait to see this somewhat freakish invention adopted. [Sidenote: =Curiosities of Stage Requirements=]