An opera score to William Shield's "Rosina, " first performed at Covent Garden in 1782, contains a quotation of the melody over a bagpipe-like drone of bassoons and clarinets.
The plaintive, almost straining bassoon solo in the opening still sounds like some new breed of snake charmer to me, oozing with clarinets while cajoling various creatures from their hiding places.
The ineffable beauty of this pedal combined with despairing bass clarinets as she opens her closet create a moving musical portrait of a vulnerable woman who has become a victim of the plot she helped hatch.