Introductory Remarks by the Narrator

Something needed to happen between the singing of the title and the Narrator’s opening number. One possibility is this instrumental interlude, which has a considerable amount of sub-dominance (A-flat) to it:



The accompaniment for “wrong to dance” has been altered from a plain half and two quarters to a duple transformation of the previous triple meter dance rhythm; marching is OK, but no dancing.



The “Labored hard” melisma has been extended to three bars with the dotted-quarter-eighth rhythm from two bars previous to accompany it. The E-flat minor chord at the end of the melisma has been worked into a more frowning E-flat minor seventh. The last bar of the melisma is echoed in the bass and the Puritan’s zealous life is staccato block chords; no frivolity here.