Cinderella - Cenerentola - Aschenputtel - is a widespread fairy tale, elements of which are found in ancient Roman, Chinese and Persian stories. There were likely hundreds of variants circulating at the time this opera was written - popularized by Charles Perrault in French (Cendrillon) and by the Grimm brothers in German (Aschenputtel). But telling a story everyone already knows well has its risks - and
several other operas recounting the tale had recently been written: A Cendrillon in 1810 by Nicolo Isouard in Paris was performed across Europe, an opera with the same title by Daniel Steibelt in St. Petersburg had found success on Russian stages, and a third version titled Agatina o la virtu premiata by Stefano Pavesi had flopped in Milan in 1814 - a performance that Rossini would certainly have heard about if he did not attend it personally, as he was in the city at the time.
The opera was conceptualized at the end of 1816. According to the memoirs of the librettist Jacopo Ferretti, Rossini was writing a new opera for the Teatro Valle. An existing libretto, Francesca di Foix, had been vetoed in its entirety by the papal censor due to portraying “one of the most immoral comedies ever devised by the French”. A complete thematic replacement was needed, and Ferreti, Rossini, the
impresario Cartoni and the censor met two days before Christmas to find a suitable story. After having over twenty suggestions rejected for various reasons, Ferreti recounts: “I became tired of suggesting new ideas and mumbled, half-asleep and yawning: “Cinderella”. Rossini, who had climbed into bed trying to think, suddenly sat up straight […] and said: “You have the courage to write a Cinderelle for me?” I asked him in turn: “Would you have the courage to set her to music?” “When will the draft be done?” “If I don’t fall asleep, tomorrow morning” Rossini said “Good night!” […] and fell asleep […]. I finished my glass of tea, agreed to a price for my work, shook Cartoni’s hand and ran home. There, I replaced the tea with a good espresso. […] As God willed it and I saw the picture in my mind's eye, I wrote down the draft for La Cenerentola. I sent it to Rossini the next day. He was satisfied.”
Ferretti completed the libretto in twenty-two days, and Rossini finished the score in twenty-four days - a pace difficult to imagine today. However, the methods of writing were also quite different - drafts of musical scenes were likely considered final and would not undergo editing unless specifically requested. Entire sections were only slightly modified from previous operatic works, such as Cenerentola’s final aria “Non più mesta”, which is a reworked version of Almaviva’s “Ah il più lieto” in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The libretto borrows heavily from Agatina, including most of the plot, substituting Alidoro for the fairy godmother and Don Magnifico for the evil stepmother in Cendrillon, and all names except Cenerentola, whose name is changed from Agatina to Angelina. All magical elements are removed from the story - possibly to satisfy the papal censor, possibly at Rossini’s insistence, as this was his first setting of a fairy tale. According to Ferreti, the recitatives as well as three scenes were written by Luca Agolini, an otherwise unknown composer. Rossini himself replaced one of these scenes, the aria of Alidoro, in a revised edition in 1820, which we performed.
La Cenerentola premiered on the 25th of January 1817, and quickly gained popularity both in Italy and internationally. Isouard’s Cendrillon and Pavesi’s Agatina were completely replaced in the operatic repertoire by Rossini’s version, and Cenerentola soon overshadowed even Il Barbiere di Siviglia throughout the nineteenth century.
Funded by the Council for the Arts at MIT.