Rossini: La Cenerentola

Rossini composed comic operas of the bel canto repertoire, which were very popular in the first half of the 19th century. Rossini's music was sparkling, inventive, Mozartian, and the vocal lines of his operas were showcases for tenors and sopranos of the day. Rossini popularized comedy in opera. It was his Barber Of Seville that began a tradition that is still strong to this very day. In the first half of the 19th century, tenor Manuel Garcia and his daughters, both of them acclaimed mezzo sopranos, delivered masterful performances of Rossini's operas…
By Rachel Garret

It is probably now or never. With classic older sets vying with a clutch of more recent recordings, there is currently as complete and interesting an array of recordings of Rossini's La Cenerentola as we are likely to get at any one time. Among recent versions, Chailly's new Decca set is self-evidently a powerful contender. Cecilia Bartoli is arguably the most personable and musically accomplished Cenerentola since Teresa Berganza recorded the role with Abbado in 1971; and there is a strong cast of supporting principals, among them Alessandro Corbelli who offers the best characterized Dandini since Bruscantini. (With the added advantage of being far more technically expert in fioriture passages than was his distinguished predecessor.)

La cenerentola (“Cinderella”) is one of Rossini’s longest comedies, nearly three hours. For any readers who are not familiar with this opera, let me briefly tell you that it bears little resemblance to Perrault’s famous fairy tale. There is no fairy godmother, no pumpkin coach with mice turned into horses, no glass slipper, and no ball at the Prince’s with a midnight curfew. What’s left is a sweet girl, mistreated by her stepfather and vain stepsisters, and a prince in search of a wife…
FANFARE: David L. Kirk

Ah Rossini…! The real inventor of the assembly line. That Ford fellow was just a copycat. One-size-fits-all overtures. Arias you swear you've heard before (you did). Plots that are reused more often than a sandlot league baseball. Why do we love him so much? Because his music is so infectious that it gets under your skin faster than a splinter from a bamboo shade. (Amazon.com; Mike Birman)

This 2010 production of La Cenerentola, recorded at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, is set in modern times. On the rather empty, bare stage there are a few elements which stand out: the colourful costumes, the two giant chandeliers and the 1970’s kitchen. Quoting the director’s own words, “the emptiness of the stage leaves room for creativity as the characters keep on changing and disguising their true identity. I have stuck to Rossini’s original notes while neglecting all the legends linked to the character of Cinderella”.

TDK presents Rossini’s popular comic opera, La Cenerentola, in a staging from the opera house in Naples. The operatic re-telling of this much loved fairy-tale centres on Cinderella’s honesty and integrity, and on her willingness to forgive others, and to encourage those around her to be equally tolerant.
Instead of the working of magic and fairy godmothers, the opera offers a moral message, encapsulated in its subtitle: ‘goodness triumphant’. Angelina (the Cinderella or Cenerentola) has a stepfather (Don Magnifico), and the traditional Fairy Godmother is replaced by Alidoro, who is a Philosopher and former Tutor to the Prince…

Rossini’s second masterpiece La Cenerentola premiered at the Teatro Valle in Rome on the 25th of January 1817, less than a year after the first performance of his The Barber of Seville and it ́s pure, perfect Rossini. In this production, a set-up made to celebrate 200 years Rossini in Rome, Emma Dante ́s “rousing Cinderella” (Corriere della Sera) “succeeds in impressing her own contemporary vision on a classic masterpiece, in perfect symbiosis with the spirit of Rossini.” (Opera Now) “Alejo Pérez deserves the credit for an excellent ensemble and a dazzling rhythmic rendering of the Rossinian score.” (La Nazione – Il Resto del Carlino – Il Giorno)

…In this production, Clorinda (Marta Taddei) and Tisbe (Laura Zannini) weren't overplayed for cheap laughs, as is usually the case. Mezzo-soprano, Kathleen Kuhlmann kept her mugging to a minimum and was in mellow voice throughout. However, it was the men who really stole the show, especially Alberto Rinaldi as Dandini, the valet-disguised-as-a-prince, who was made up as a dead-ringer for Charles I of England. Rossini's original staging may have been an imaginary Italianate kingdom, but this production takes place in dashing, Cavalier England. The scene where Dandini, disguised as Prince Ramiro, prances into Don Magnifico's run-down castle, complete with horse, hounds, and courtiers, and sings of himself as a bee among the flowers (i.e. the ugly stepsisters) is a comic masterpiece. I had to own the DVD just for this aria ("They look just like their father!") By E. A. Lovitt

This 2010 production of La Cenerentola, recorded at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, is set in modern times. On the rather empty, bare stage there are a few elements which stand out: the colourful costumes, the two giant chandeliers and the 1970’s kitchen. Quoting the director’s own words, “the emptiness of the stage leaves room for creativity as the characters keep on changing and disguising their true identity. I have stuck to Rossini’s original notes while neglecting all the legends linked to the character of Cinderella”.