Walter replies to me:

>>...  If the libretto or the words didn't matter, composers wouldn't
>>have hounded their librettists for better words or, in Wagner's case,
>>for instance, spent so long writing a libretto.
>
>Perhaps one of the finest librettists was Boito, used by Verdi in Otello
>and in Falstaff.  But do you really think some of the ensemble passages
>where different groups on the stage are simultaneously singing different
>texts (Boito's text to Falstaff comes to mind first, but this occurs in
>other operas also, of course) were expected by the composer to be followed
>by the audience?

Well, most of these passages are essentially crowd scenes.  And, yes,
certain things were to come through at certain times.  One technique for
this (other than getting out of the way of someone with a dramatically or
musically more important message) is to repeat words.  I think you'll find
in most of these ensembles short phrases repeated.

Steve Schwartz