ABSTRACT
A pronounced change occurred around the year 1600 in the development of plays with music. The fact that the intelligibility of the text could be challenged by the musical setting was a concern in the educational or rhetorical plan of the Jesuits in their plays, and of course was a concern of the early writers of opera as well. The various applications of music to theatrical performances exemplify the 'Jesuit way of proceeding.' In accordance with humanistic ideals of education, drama with music and dance was cultivated in many colleges from about 1560, primarily for educational purposes. But theatrical effects were used in Counter-Reformation propaganda, with public performances involving up to 1,000 actors. In doing so Drexel was one of a whole line of Christian – and latterly, mainly Jesuit – authors who would have liked to see everything that could be considered 'theatrical' banned from music.
