In Roman tragedies, the cantica were the parts in which dialogue was accompanied by the orchestra; originally they alternated with conversations, but during the Empire the taste of the masses who began to frequent the theatre became more and more established, and conversations were cut in favour of the polyphony of sounds accompanying the words.
The most famous cantica were known and passed down from generation to generation, and when trumpeters, citharists, harpsichord, flute and accordion players accompanied the actor’s voice on stage with their instruments, the audience was pulled into a vortex of sounds from the lowest point of the orchestra to the furthest rows of seats.
