Woman, The 1. (Schoenberg: Erwartung). Soprano. The only character in the opera, she is looking for her lover, convinced he must be with another woman. She enters the forest. In the darkness of the trees she hears rustles, birds screeching, someone weeping. She is even frightened by her own shadow; she stumbles, falls, cries for help. By the time she reaches the road again she is exhausted, scratched and dishevelled. Then she sees his bloodstained body, shot dead by his other lover. All her attempts to revive him fail. Created (1924) by Marie Gutheil-Schoder.

2. (Poulenc: La Voix humaine). See ‘Elle’.