La cenerentola

The cruel stepmother becomes a tyrannical stepfather, the grotesque Don Magnifico, unable to overcome the wounds from his past; the role of the de facto fairy is played by Alidoro, the prince’s tutor Don Ramiro, who, in disguise, detects the goodness of Angelina, the Cinderella humiliated by the ungraceful stepsisters Clorinda and Tisbe; the prince has swapped his clothes for those of his squire Dandini; Angelina immediately falls in love; Don Magnifico and his daughters are ridiculed by Dandini and the prince; the happy ending includes everyone’s absolution. 

Written for the Roman Carnival in 1871, in only 24 days, the young Rossini, with 19 operas behind him (including Il barbiere di Siviglia), wrote a score full of energy with its famous “crescendos” that shake up the dramatic tension. 

The most innovative aspects of La Cenerentola and the success it soon achieved – it premiered in Barcelona in 1818, a year after its premiere – emerge from the violent contrast between the main character’s personality, the sentimentality of the plot and the characters populating it from Rosini’s buffo world. From Angelina’s melancholy opening song: “Una volta c’era un re”, we hear a serious opera heroine with extraordinary vocal virtuosity. 

A veritable storm of great music, full of humour served up by the best Rossini singers of the moment with production by Emma Dante, that is delicate, full of subtle nuances, but which also has a sombre and burlesque melancholy. A dramma giocoso replete with lessons for modern-day society.