An eight-measure sentence initiates what looks to be a three-part small form, and it is followed by the expected B-section that focuses on the dominant. The whole thing suddenly unravels, however, with a couple fortissimo chords on V/V (see below), and the introduction to the cavatina begins, Andante non troppo. Note the rising gesture in the cadence (circled).
In the cavatina, "Ô bonheur extrême! Enfin elle m'aime," Daniel enthusiastically invites everyone to a feast for a wedding that, alas, will not occur (at least, not so soon as he thinks). The pattern of the introduction repeats itself -- the high note F#5 clearly dominates and descends by step through E5 to D5 (beamed notes), while an alto voice works its way up from ^5 (circled notes).
In the orchestral score, the first clarinet can be seen to assist with putting emphasis on the descending line from ^3 (circled notes in its part). The first violin, on the other hand, follows the tenor from ^5 to ^6 -- see the beginning of the two boxes, where ^6 is circled in both parts -- but then the violins drop back to ^5 (A4) while the lower strand of the tenor moves upward toward ^8. This split in the progression from ^6 was already clear in the previous example, where the violins are the uppermost notes of the piano reduction.
The structural cadence looks the same in the vocal score (bars 1-5 below), but the orchestral score (second example below) shows some differences: the clarinet is missing, and the flute now takes the ^6 instead of the first violins. The arrow in the flute part points to a tiny but pleasant detail: ^6 is held a beat longer and thus the flute and the tenor harmonize (that is, hold ^6 together), briefly creating a clear dominant ninth sound.
The coda to the cavatina is a very common descent/ascent pattern that one can find already in opera in the 1780s. Only the solo part is shown, with scale degrees (bars 5 ff below). The play on nat-^7 leads easily into the key of the cabaletta (see the last bars of the example).
(orchestral score for the structural cadence)
The tonal frame of the whole, then, doesn't line up with these form priorities: G major in the (abandoned) Allegro risoluto, D major in the (long) cavatina, then a return to G major for the (coda-like) cabaletta. On the other hand, there is no particular reason that the two needed to line up—a fluid relation of keys in the sections of a multi-part aria was common, and typically in some relation of tonic, dominant, and subdominant (in addition to parallel minor/major shifts).
The cabaletta theme is a straightforward 16mm period. The ending formula (boxed) can also be found fairly often in the first quarter of the nineteenth century as a dramatic variant of the Baroque era figure in which a rise, usually to ^8, is immediately offset by a quick and firm stepwise descending cadence.
It is possible to hear a line ^5-^7-^8, or what I have called the "primitive" rising line cadence, but with ^8 replaced by ^1 -- see the circled notes below. I think, though, that it is much easier to hear a tonal frame of the octave and fifth, G4-D5-G5, throughout this passage.
(simplified version of the structural cadence above)
