Cendrillon is a French opera in three acts by the Maltese-born

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 composer Nicolas Isouard

Nicolas Isouard

Nicolas Isouard was a Maltese composer.Isouard studied in Valletta with Francesco Azopardi, in Palermo with Giuseppe Amendola, and in Naples with Nicola Sala and Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi. From 1795 he was organist at St...

. It takes the form of an opéra comique

Opéra comique

Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...

with spoken dialogue between the musical numbers, although its authors designated it an opéra série. The 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 Charles Guillaume Etienne, is based on Charles 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 fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 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...

. The work was first performed 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...

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 on 22 February 1810. Cendrillon was a success throughout Europe until its popularity was eclipsed by that of Rossini's opera on the Cinderella theme, La Cenerentola

La Cenerentola

La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...

(1817).

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast
Cendrillon	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...	Alexandrine Saint-Aubin
Clorinde	soprano	Anne-Cécile Saint-Aubin Duret
Tisbé	soprano	Louise-Thérèse-Antoinette Lemonnier-Regnault
Prince Ramir	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...
Dandini	tenor
Alidor	bass
Baron de Montefiascone	bass

Act One

Cendrillon is the stepdaughter of Baron Montefiascone. She lives in his house with his daughters, Clorinde and Thisbé, where she is treated like a servant. The two sisters are preparing for the royal ball when a beggar arrives asking for hospitality. Cendrillon welcomes him but the sisters drive him away, not realising he is Alidor, the Prince's minister, in disguise. The beggar promises that Cendrillon will be rewarded for her kindness. The Prince has heard rumours of Cendrillon's goodness and he too comes to the house disguised as his valet, Dandini. He learns the true nature of the three stepsisters. Clorinde and Thisbé leave Cendrillon behind as they depart for the ball, but Alidor promises her she will go too.

Act Two

Cendrillon wakes up at the Prince's palace to find herself wearing magnificent clothes. Alidor assures her no one will recognise her in this disguise as he gives her a rose. The Prince meets her, still disguised as Dandini. She allows him to be her "knight" in a mock tournament and he wins. When he asks her to be his wife she flees, leaving a slipper behind.

Act Three

At the Baron's house, Clorinde and Thisbé discuss the news that the Prince has fallen in love with the beautiful stranger at the ball. The Prince tries to find the owner of the slipper and arrives at the Baron's house. It fits Cendrillon and the Prince offers her his hand in marriage. She gladly accepts.

Recordings

• Cendrillon Ludmilla Shilova, Byung Soon Lee, Marian Sjölander, Nikolai Doroshkin, Hans Pieter Herman, Ensemble XXI Moscow, conducted by Richard Bonynge
  Richard Bonynge
  Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
  
  (Olympia, 1999)

Sources

• The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
• Amadeus Online