[[Listen]]
Piangea cantando nell'erma landa, piangea la mesta.... O Salce!
Emilia goes, and Desdemona at her prie-Dieu, before the image of the Virgin, intones an exquisite "Ave Maria," beginning and ending in pathetic monotone, with an appealing melody between.
[[Listen]]
Prega per chi adorando a te si prostra, Ave! Amen!
Othello's entrance is accompanied by a powerful passage on the double basses.
Then follows the scene of the strangling, through which are heard mournfully reminiscent strains of the love duet that ended the first act. Emilia discloses Iago's perfidy. Othello kills himself.