Cendrillon
Encyclopedia
Cendrillon is an opera
—described as a "fairy tale"—in four acts by Jules Massenet
to a French libretto
by Henri Cain
based on Perrault
's 1698 version of the Cinderella
fairy tale. The scenario was conceived by Massenet and Cain at the Cavendish Hotel while they were in London for the premiere of Le Cid
. Premiered in 1899, Massenet began work on the score in 1894 in Pont-de-l'Arche
, with the final touches being made in Nice
in 1895. At the time of the premiere, Massenet had announced in Le Figaro
that Cendrillon would be his last lyric work.
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
notes that Massenet's sense of humour and wit is more evident in this work, and the use of recurrent motifs is more discreet, while the love music "reminds us how well Massenet knew his Wagner
". Albert Carré
(director of the Opera-Comique and producer of the first staging) persuaded the composer to drop a prologue introducing the characters, but a brief epilogue survives. Another writer comments that Massenet’s perfectly proportioned score moves from a scene worthy of Armide
of Lully
(Cendrillon’s monologue), through Rossinian vocalise
s and archaic orchestration
s to ballet movements on a par with Tchaikovsky.
The autograph score is dedicated to 'Mademoiselle Julie Giraudon', who subsequently married Henri Cain.
), it enjoyed the modern facilities provided during the refurbishment, including special effects on stage and electricity throughout the theatre. Massenet took a close interest in the first production, attending 60 out of 98 rehearsals at the Opéra-Comique prior to the premiere. The first performance was given at the Opéra-Comique
in Paris on 24 May 1899, at the height of Massenet's success. As was his usual practice Massenet avoided the first night, but received a telegram from Fugère the next day at Enghien-les-Bains
(where he was staying with his wife), recording its triumph.
An immediate success, with fifty performances in its first season, it was revived at the Gaîté-Lyrique in Paris in 1909 with Geneviève Vix
as the Prince and Rose Heilbronner in the title role.
Cendrillon was performed in Brussels and Milan in 1899, quickly followed by other Italian cities, and New York in 1912. Maggie Teyte
in the title role and Mary Garden
as the Prince led the cast in Chicago in 1911. Swindon
saw the UK stage premiere in 1939, thanks to Lord Berners.
More recently the opera has been seen in Brussels and Liege in 1982 (with Frederica von Stade
, Ann Murray
and Jules Bastin
), Geneva in 1998, Strasbourg in 2003, at the Santa Fe Opera
in 2006 (with Joyce DiDonato
and Eglise Gutiérrez in Laurent Pelly
's production), Brussels and Luxembourg in 2007, New York in 2008, Dresden, Montreal and Brisbane in 2010, and Vancouver in February 2011.
Cendrillon was produced at the Opéra-Comique in March 2011 and the Royal Opera House
, London in July 2011, the latter using Laurent Pelly's production.
In November 2011, Cendrillon was produced at the Cleveland Institute of Music
in Cleveland, Ohio. Parting from tradition, the role of Cendrillon was sung by a soprano and Le Prince Charmant was sung by a tenor. The show received favorable reviews from The Cleveland Plain Dealer and ClassicalCleveland.com.
A large room in the house of Madame de la Haltière with a chimney grate. Servants are busy preparing for the ball. Pandolfe, the second husband of Madame de la Haltière, wonders why he forsook the calm of his country home to marry a selfish countess with her two daughters, and pities the lot of his own loving daughter Lucette (Cendrillon). Madame de la Haltière and her daughters Noémie and Dorothée dress while the mother tells them how to attract the prince's attention at the ball. Late in leaving, Pandolfe resigns himself to accompanying them. Cendrillon enters, singing of how she wished she could also have gone to the ball. After completing her chores she falls asleep by the warm chimney breast. The Fairy Godmother and her attendants come in, transform Cendrillon into magnificent clothes for the ball, but warn the girl that their spell will only last until midnight, and that the glass slippers will protect her from being recognized by her family. Cinderella promises to return at midnight, and sets off for the ball.
At the royal hall, all is excitement, except for the prince who is melancholy. The king reminds him that he must choose a wife. After five ballet entrées where the eligible princesses present themselves to the prince, a heavenly unknown beauty (Cendrillon) enters and enchants everyone - except for Madame de la Haltière and the two step-sisters. The prince and Cendrillon fall in love at first sight but when the clock strikes midnight Cendrillon runs off, as the stunned forlorn prince looks on.
Cendrillon arrives back at the house, having lost one of her glass slippers in her flight, and relives the charm of the ball. Her fine gown has changed back into a plain dress. She hears the returning family carriage and hides in her room. Madame de la Haltière and her daughters insist that the prince rejected the unknown beauty. Cendrillon is on the point of fainting, when her father angrily sends the other women from the room. Tenderly he promises Cendrillon that they will return to his country home. When he has left, recalling her own mother’s death, to prevent her father any more pain, Cendrillon flees into the night, to die on her own.
Second Tableau: The Fairies' Oak
Under a magic oak tree in an enchanted forest, the prince and Cendrillon are drawn together by the fairies. An enchanted arbour of flowers blocks their view of each other but they recognize each other's voice and sing of their love. The prince offers his heart to see his beloved. The flowers disappear and the lovers, surrounded by the spirits, fall into a slumber in each other’s arms.
Back in Cendrillon's home, Pandolfe watches over his sleeping daughter who was found months previously by a stream. Cendrillon awakes and her father relates how in her delirium she told him about the prince, the oak and the slipper. Pandolfe convinces her that it was all a dream. Madame de la Haltière and her daughters appear with the news about an assembly of all eligible princesses at the of the King's palace. As a royal herald summons the princesses to go and try on the glass slipper, Cendrillon realizes that her dream was true. During the march of the princesses, the scene changes.
Second Tableau: A great hall in the palace
Back at the ballroom in the palace the prince recognizes Cendrillon among the princesses. The lovers are reunited and acclaimed by all present, even Madame de la Haltière. All turn to the audience and, out of characters, sing that the piece is over and they have done their best to send the audience through "les beaux pays bleus".
is a breeches role
, sung by a Falcon soprano
— or "soprano de sentiment"— according to the libretto, a dark dramatic and characteristically French soprano voice (there is no authority for transposing this role for a tenor.) This voice type
is contrasted in Cendrillon's other scenes with the coloratura
writing for her fairy godmother, which is characterised by trill
s and arpeggio
s. The 18th-century is echoed in witty pastiche of galant
music, such as the trio of lute
, viola d'amore
and flute
that fails to rouse the melancholy and silent prince at the opening of Act 2. The score includes a ballet, a series of entrées at the ball of princesses who fail to satisfy the Prince, contrasted with the spectral ballet under a "bluish light" in Act 4, where Cain interposes an episode in which Lucette (as Cendrillon is called) and her Prince are kept apart and tested by the arts of la Fée (Fairy Godmother).
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
—described as a "fairy tale"—in four acts by Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
to a French libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Henri Cain
Henri Cain
Henri Caïn was a French dramatist, opera and ballet librettist. He wrote over forty librettos from 1893 to his death, for many of the most prominent composers of the Parisian Belle Epoque....
based on Perrault
Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault was a French author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , Cendrillon , Le Chat Botté and La Barbe bleue...
's 1698 version of the Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
fairy tale. The scenario was conceived by Massenet and Cain at the Cavendish Hotel while they were in London for the premiere of Le Cid
Le Cid (opera)
Le Cid is an opera in four acts and ten tableaux by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet, Édouard Blau and Adolphe d'Ennery. It is based on the play of the same name by Pierre Corneille....
. Premiered in 1899, Massenet began work on the score in 1894 in Pont-de-l'Arche
Pont-de-l'Arche
Pont-de-l'Arche is a commune of the Eure département in France.-Population:-External links:*...
, with the final touches being made in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
in 1895. At the time of the premiere, Massenet had announced in Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
that Cendrillon would be his last lyric work.
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
New Grove Dictionary of Opera
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
notes that Massenet's sense of humour and wit is more evident in this work, and the use of recurrent motifs is more discreet, while the love music "reminds us how well Massenet knew his Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
". Albert Carré
Albert Carré
Albert Carré was a French theatre director, opera director, actor and librettist. He was the nephew of librettist Michel Carré and cousin of cinema director Michel Antoine Carré...
(director of the Opera-Comique and producer of the first staging) persuaded the composer to drop a prologue introducing the characters, but a brief epilogue survives. Another writer comments that Massenet’s perfectly proportioned score moves from a scene worthy of Armide
Armide (Lully)
Armide is an opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The libretto was written by Philippe Quinault, based on Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata .Critics in the 18th century regarded Armide as Lully's masterpiece...
of Lully
Lully
-Places:*Switzerland**Lully, Fribourg, a municipality**Lully, Vaud, a municipality**Lully, Geneva, a village in the municipality of Bernex*France**Lully, Haute-Savoie-People:*Jean-Baptiste Lully , an Italian-born Baroque composer of French opera...
(Cendrillon’s monologue), through Rossinian vocalise
Vocalise
A vocalise is a vocal exercise without words, which is sung on one or more vowel sounds.-In classical music:Vocalise dates back to the mid-18th century...
s and archaic orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
s to ballet movements on a par with Tchaikovsky.
The autograph score is dedicated to 'Mademoiselle Julie Giraudon', who subsequently married Henri Cain.
Performance history
As one of the first operas to be produced at the newly-rebuilt Salle Favart (the third theatre of that name and the home of theOpéra-ComiqueOpéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
), it enjoyed the modern facilities provided during the refurbishment, including special effects on stage and electricity throughout the theatre. Massenet took a close interest in the first production, attending 60 out of 98 rehearsals at the Opéra-Comique prior to the premiere. The first performance was given at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
in Paris on 24 May 1899, at the height of Massenet's success. As was his usual practice Massenet avoided the first night, but received a telegram from Fugère the next day at Enghien-les-Bains
Enghien-les-Bains
Enghien-les-Bains is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the département of Val-d'Oise....
(where he was staying with his wife), recording its triumph.
An immediate success, with fifty performances in its first season, it was revived at the Gaîté-Lyrique in Paris in 1909 with Geneviève Vix
Geneviève Vix
Geneviève Vix née Brouwer was a French soprano. She was a descendant of the Dutch painter Adriaen Brouwer.-Life and career:...
as the Prince and Rose Heilbronner in the title role.
Cendrillon was performed in Brussels and Milan in 1899, quickly followed by other Italian cities, and New York in 1912. Maggie Teyte
Maggie Teyte
Dame Maggie Teyte DBE was an English operatic soprano and interpreter of French art song.-Early years:Margaret Tate was born in Wolverhampton, England, one of ten children of Jacob James Tate, a successful wine and spirit merchant and proprietor of public houses and later lodgings. Her parents...
in the title role and Mary Garden
Mary Garden
Mary Garden , was a Scottish operatic soprano with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century...
as the Prince led the cast in Chicago in 1911. Swindon
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
saw the UK stage premiere in 1939, thanks to Lord Berners.
More recently the opera has been seen in Brussels and Liege in 1982 (with Frederica von Stade
Frederica von Stade
Frederica von Stade is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname "Flicka" in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The...
, Ann Murray
Ann Murray
Ann Murray DBE is an Irish mezzo-soprano. She was born on 27 August 1949, in Dublin. She studied with Frederic Cox at the Royal Manchester College of Music and made her stage debut as Alcestis in Christoph Willibald Gluck's Alceste in 1974...
and Jules Bastin
Jules Bastin
Jules Bastin was a Belgian operatic bass. Born in Brussels, he made his debut in 1960 at La Monnaie, singing Charon in L'Orfeo. He appeared at major opera houses throughout Europe, including the Royal Opera House, La Scala, and the Palais Garnier; he also sang at opera houses in North and South...
), Geneva in 1998, Strasbourg in 2003, at the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
in 2006 (with Joyce DiDonato
Joyce DiDonato
Joyce DiDonato is an award-winning American operatic mezzo-soprano particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Handel, Mozart, and Rossini...
and Eglise Gutiérrez in Laurent Pelly
Laurent Pelly
Laurent Pelly is a French opera and theatre director. At the age of 18, he founded the Compagnie Théâtrale du Pélican which, since 1982, has been co-directed by Agathe Mélinand...
's production), Brussels and Luxembourg in 2007, New York in 2008, Dresden, Montreal and Brisbane in 2010, and Vancouver in February 2011.
Cendrillon was produced at the Opéra-Comique in March 2011 and the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, London in July 2011, the latter using Laurent Pelly's production.
In November 2011, Cendrillon was produced at the Cleveland Institute of Music
Cleveland Institute of Music
The Cleveland Institute of Music is an independent music conservatory located in the University Circle district of Cleveland, Ohio, United States and is overseen by president Joel Smirnoff and Adrian Daly, dean....
in Cleveland, Ohio. Parting from tradition, the role of Cendrillon was sung by a soprano and Le Prince Charmant was sung by a tenor. The show received favorable reviews from The Cleveland Plain Dealer and ClassicalCleveland.com.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 24 May 1899 (Conductor: - Alexandre Luigini Alexandre Luigini Alexandre Clément Léon Joseph Luigini was a French composer and conductor, especially active in the opera house. As as composer, he is now remembered almost solely for his Ballet égyptien.-Life and career:... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Lucette/Cendrillon (Cinderella) | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Julia Guiraudon |
| Madame de la Haltière, stepmother of Cendrillon | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... or contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
Marie-Blanche Deschamps-Jehin |
| Le Prince Charmant (Prince Charming) | falcon or 'soprano de sentiment' | Émelen |
| La Fée (the Fairy) | light soprano | Georgette Bréjean-Gravière |
| Noémie, stepsister of Cendrillon | soprano | Jeanne Tiphaine |
| Dorothée, stepsister of Cendrillon | mezzo-soprano | Jeanne Marié de L'Isle |
| Pandolfe, Cendrillon’s father | bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... 'chantante' or baritone |
Lucien Fugère Lucien Fugère Lucien Fugère was a French baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory and Mozart roles, he enjoyed an exceptionally long career, singing into his 80s.- Life and career :... |
| Le Roi (the King) | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Dubosc |
| Le Doyen de la Faculté | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... (trial Antoine Trial Antoine Trial was a French singer and actor. He was the younger brother of the musician Jean-Claude Trial and husband of soprano Marie-Jeanne .... ) |
Gourdon |
| Le Surintendant des plaisirs | baritone | Étienne Troy |
| Le Premier Ministre | 'basse chantante' or baritone | Gustave Huberdeau Gustave Huberdeau Gustave Huberdeau was a French operatic bass-baritone who had a prolific career in Europe and the United States during the first quarter of the twentieth century... |
| 1st spirit | mezzo-soprano | Marie Delorn |
| 2nd spirit | soprano | Françoise Oswald |
| 3rd spirit | soprano | Vilma |
| 4th spirit | mezzo-soprano | Stéphane |
| 5th spirit | soprano | Craponne |
| 6th spirit | soprano | Fouqué |
| Voice of the royal herald (off-stage) | spoken | |
| A ballerina | Jeanne Chasles | |
| Chorus: servants, courtiers, doctors, ministers, lords and ladies; Ballet - will-o'-the-wisps, tailors, hairdressers, milliners, a fiancé and fiancée, daughters of nobility, princesses, dewdrops. | ||
Synopsis
(A prologue in front of the curtain, suppressed before the premiere, introduced the characters and invited the audience to enjoy the fairy-tale "to escape from dark realities" and to believe in the "fabulous". The final words of the prologue are repeated at the end of the opera).Act 1
Chez Madame de la HaltièreA large room in the house of Madame de la Haltière with a chimney grate. Servants are busy preparing for the ball. Pandolfe, the second husband of Madame de la Haltière, wonders why he forsook the calm of his country home to marry a selfish countess with her two daughters, and pities the lot of his own loving daughter Lucette (Cendrillon). Madame de la Haltière and her daughters Noémie and Dorothée dress while the mother tells them how to attract the prince's attention at the ball. Late in leaving, Pandolfe resigns himself to accompanying them. Cendrillon enters, singing of how she wished she could also have gone to the ball. After completing her chores she falls asleep by the warm chimney breast. The Fairy Godmother and her attendants come in, transform Cendrillon into magnificent clothes for the ball, but warn the girl that their spell will only last until midnight, and that the glass slippers will protect her from being recognized by her family. Cinderella promises to return at midnight, and sets off for the ball.
Act 2
The royal palaceAt the royal hall, all is excitement, except for the prince who is melancholy. The king reminds him that he must choose a wife. After five ballet entrées where the eligible princesses present themselves to the prince, a heavenly unknown beauty (Cendrillon) enters and enchants everyone - except for Madame de la Haltière and the two step-sisters. The prince and Cendrillon fall in love at first sight but when the clock strikes midnight Cendrillon runs off, as the stunned forlorn prince looks on.
Act 3
First tableau: The return from the ballCendrillon arrives back at the house, having lost one of her glass slippers in her flight, and relives the charm of the ball. Her fine gown has changed back into a plain dress. She hears the returning family carriage and hides in her room. Madame de la Haltière and her daughters insist that the prince rejected the unknown beauty. Cendrillon is on the point of fainting, when her father angrily sends the other women from the room. Tenderly he promises Cendrillon that they will return to his country home. When he has left, recalling her own mother’s death, to prevent her father any more pain, Cendrillon flees into the night, to die on her own.
Second Tableau: The Fairies' Oak
Under a magic oak tree in an enchanted forest, the prince and Cendrillon are drawn together by the fairies. An enchanted arbour of flowers blocks their view of each other but they recognize each other's voice and sing of their love. The prince offers his heart to see his beloved. The flowers disappear and the lovers, surrounded by the spirits, fall into a slumber in each other’s arms.
Act 4
First Tableau: The terrace chez CendrillonBack in Cendrillon's home, Pandolfe watches over his sleeping daughter who was found months previously by a stream. Cendrillon awakes and her father relates how in her delirium she told him about the prince, the oak and the slipper. Pandolfe convinces her that it was all a dream. Madame de la Haltière and her daughters appear with the news about an assembly of all eligible princesses at the of the King's palace. As a royal herald summons the princesses to go and try on the glass slipper, Cendrillon realizes that her dream was true. During the march of the princesses, the scene changes.
Second Tableau: A great hall in the palace
Back at the ballroom in the palace the prince recognizes Cendrillon among the princesses. The lovers are reunited and acclaimed by all present, even Madame de la Haltière. All turn to the audience and, out of characters, sing that the piece is over and they have done their best to send the audience through "les beaux pays bleus".
Style
The part of Prince CharmingPrince Charming
Prince Charming is a stock character who appears in a number of fairy tales. He is the prince who comes to rescue of the damsel in distress, and stereotypically, must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell...
is a breeches role
Breeches role
A breeches role is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing .In opera it also refers to any male character that is sung and acted by a female singer...
, sung by a Falcon soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
— or "soprano de sentiment"— according to the libretto, a dark dramatic and characteristically French soprano voice (there is no authority for transposing this role for a tenor.) This voice type
Voice type
A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...
is contrasted in Cendrillon's other scenes with the coloratura
Coloratura
Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...
writing for her fairy godmother, which is characterised by trill
Trill (music)
The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill....
s and arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s. The 18th-century is echoed in witty pastiche of galant
Galant
In music, Galant was a term referring to a style, principally occurring in the third quarter of the 18th century, which featured a return to classical simplicity after the complexity of the late Baroque era...
music, such as the trio of lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
, viola d'amore
Viola d'amore
The viola d'amore is a 7- or 6-stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin.- Structure and sound :...
and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
that fails to rouse the melancholy and silent prince at the opening of Act 2. The score includes a ballet, a series of entrées at the ball of princesses who fail to satisfy the Prince, contrasted with the spectral ballet under a "bluish light" in Act 4, where Cain interposes an episode in which Lucette (as Cendrillon is called) and her Prince are kept apart and tested by the arts of la Fée (Fairy Godmother).
Recordings
- 1978: Frederica von StadeFrederica von StadeFrederica von Stade is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname "Flicka" in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The...
(mezzo) Cendrillon; Nicolai GeddaNicolai GeddaNicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...
(tenor) Prince Charmant; Jane BerbiéJane BerbiéJane Berbié is a French mezzo-soprano particularly associated with Mozart and Rossini roles.- Life and career :Berbié was born Jeanne Bergougne, in Villefranche-de-Lauragais, Haute-Garonne, France, and studied piano and voice at the Music Conservatory in nearby Toulouse...
(mezzo) Madame de la Haltière; Jules BastinJules BastinJules Bastin was a Belgian operatic bass. Born in Brussels, he made his debut in 1960 at La Monnaie, singing Charon in L'Orfeo. He appeared at major opera houses throughout Europe, including the Royal Opera House, La Scala, and the Palais Garnier; he also sang at opera houses in North and South...
(bass) Pandolfe; Ruth Welting (soprano) La Fée; Teresa Cahill (soprano) Noémie; Elizabeth BainbridgeElizabeth BainbridgeElizabeth Bainbridge is a retired opera singer from West Sussex, England. Her career in singing spans several decades, the majority of her successes being achieved whilst being a member of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London...
(mezzo) Dorothée; Claude Méloni (tenor) Le Roi, La Voix du Héraut; Paul Crook (tenor) Le Doyen de la Faculté; Christian du PlessisChristian du PlessisChristian du Plessis is a South African baritone, largely based in England, and particularly associated with the bel canto repertory....
(baritone) Le Surintendant des Plaisirs; John Noble (baritone) Le Premier Ministre. With the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and the Philharmonia OrchestraPhilharmonia OrchestraThe Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
conducted by Julius RudelJulius RudelJulius Rudel is an American opera and orchestra conductor who emigrated to the United States from Austria at the age of 17 and studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He then forged a 35-year career with the New York City Opera, from 1944 to 1979, and was the Music...
. Recorded at All Saints Church, London. Sony Classical SM2K91178 [two discs].