 Dramatic recitative was at the heart of Lullian opera, whereas in Italy recitative had dwindled to a perfunctory form known as "secco", where the voice was accompanied only by the continuo.Likewise, the choruses and dances that were such a feature of French works played little or no part in "opera seria".Arguments over the respective merits of French and Italian music dominated criticism throughout the following century, until Gluck arrived in Paris and effectively fused the two traditions in a new synthesis.