and agitated overture (interrupted by a wistful middle section) we observe Costanza, standing beside a boulder, facing the sea. On the boulder, she is laboriously carving an inscription that chronicles her supposed desertion. Haydn’s instrumental music suggests this activity, as well as delineating the characters, their emotional states, and their responses to each other; later in the opera he will associate the violin with Costanza, the flute with Silvia, the cello with Gernando, and the bassoon…
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