, or mixed chorus, creates a certain amount of
difficulty. In such cases the soloist should sing in a higher register
than the chorus, the former _a piena voce_, the latter _piano_. The
soloist should stand as near to the footlights as possible; the chorus
up-stage. The orchestration should be adapted to the soloist, not to
the chorus.

_Examples:_

No. 298. _Snegourotchka_ [[143]].

_Ivan the Terrible._ Act II [[37]] (cf. Ex. 296).

When the chorus sings in the wings the soloist is always heard
distinctly.

_Examples:_

_Ivan the Terrible_, Act I [[25-26]].

* _The May Night_, Act III [[Ccc]].

* _Sadko_ [[102]], [[111]].

Instruments on the stage and in the wings.

The use of instruments on the stage or in the wings dates from distant
times (Mozart, _Don Giovanni_, string orchestra in Act I, _finale_).
In the middle of last century orchestras of brass instruments, or
brass and wood-wind combined, made their appearance on the stage
(Glinka, Meyerbeer, Gounod and others). More modern composers have
abandoned this clumsy practice, not only unfortunate from the
spectators' point of view, but also detrimental to the mediaeval or
legendary setting of the majority of operas. Only those stage
instruments are now used which suit the scene and surroundings in
which the opera is laid. As regards instruments in the wings,
invisible to the audience, the question is simple. Nevertheless, for
the musician of today the choice of these instruments must be
regulated by aesthetic considerations of greater importance than those
governing the selection of a military band. The instruments are played
in the wings, those visible on the stage are only for ornament.
Sometimes stage-instruments may be replicas of those common to the
period which the opera represents, (the sacred horns in _Mlada_, for
example). The orchestral accompaniment must vary in power according
to the characteristics of the instruments played in the wings. It is
impossible to illustrate the use of all the instruments mentioned
below, and to outline suitable accompaniments. I can only give a few
examples and refer the reader once again to the passages in the full
scores.

a) Trumpets:

_Servilia_ [[12]], [[25]].

* _Legend of Kitesh_ [[53]], [[55]], [[60]].

* _Tsar Saltan_ [[139]] and further on.

b) Horns, in the form of hunting horns:

_Pan Voyevoda_ [[38-39]].

c) Trombones, leaving the orchestra to go on the stage:

_Pan Voyevoda_ [[19