Among the few extended orchestral passages in the opera, perhaps the most substantial is the journey at the beginning of the second act.
As such it is a practical guide which yields considerable insight into the culture and craft of orchestral playing.
The structural repeat is transposed, varied and redistributed, and an agile coda has the soloist in cahoots with its orchestral counterparts.
The orchestral part in bars 34-5 is confined to two harmonised echoes of the voice's db -eb ascent in bar 33.
To save the hypothesis, one might have to limit its application to cases where the orchestral music has only an expressive function.
The final refrain is expanded with more hymn-like authority, yet the sudden tonic triad which concludes the colourful orchestral coda is deceptively affirmative.
And, inevitably, certain movements set aside for solo dancers were played by a solo instrumentalist with light orchestral accompaniment.
It is perceptually important, as it helps the singer's voice to be heard when the orchestral accompaniment is loud.
