Cendrillon (Massenet)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Cendrillon |
Poster of the premiere |
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| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Jules Massenet |
| Libretto : | Henri Cain |
| Literary source: | Cendrillon ou la Petite Pantoufle de verre ( Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper ) by Charles Perrault |
| Premiere: | May 24, 1899 |
| Place of premiere: | Opéra-Comique , Paris |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ¼ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | historical fairy tale world |
| people | |
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Cendrillon is a fairy tale opera in four acts by Jules Massenet . The libretto is by Henri Cain and is based on the fairy tale Cendrillon ou la Petite Pantoufle de verre ( Cinderella or the little glass shoe ) by Charles Perrault . The world premiere took place on May 24, 1899 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris . The figure of the Cinderella appears in a similar form in Grimm's fairy tales . Other composers have taken on the subject. In particular, Gioachino Rossini's opera La Cenerentola should be mentioned here. Even Walt Disney's animated film Cinderella is based on that content.
action
first act
The king holds a festival to look for a wife for his son, the prince, on this occasion. Pandolfe and his family are also invited. His second wife, Madame de la Haltière, appears with their daughters Dorothée and Noémie. Her stepsister Cendrillon, also called Lucette in French , is not taken to the party. Instead, she has to clean the house. When she falls asleep after work, her secret mentor , a fairy, transforms the sleeping woman into a beautiful princess and guides her to the king's palace. Cendrillon wears an elegant dress and glass shoes and promises to be back at midnight, as the transformation only lasts until then.
Second act
Several girls are introduced to the bored prince in the ballroom, but he doesn't like any of them. Only when Cendrillon enters does he fall in love with the beautiful stranger. During a dance together he tries in vain to find out her name. When leaving the ballroom at midnight, Cendrillon loses one of her glass shoes. The prince wants to follow her, but is prevented from doing so by the fairy.
Third act
After the stepmother and stepsisters return home from the ball, Cendrillon asks how the party is going, but is harshly rejected, whereupon she sadly leaves the house and goes into a lonely moorland. There, arranged by the fairy, she meets the prince. They confess their love, but fall into a slumber without getting any closer.
Fourth act
The father finally finds the sleeping daughter in the moor. She reports about the fairy and the prince, but believes she has dreamed everything. Madame de la Haltière, who suddenly appears, announces that all the girls should appear in the royal palace to try on the glass shoe they have found. Now Cendrillon suspects that she wasn't dreaming. Many girls try in vain to put the shoe on. Cendrillon, on the other hand, fits like a glove. The prince recognizes them immediately. With that, the lovers are finally united and everyone present, including the stepmother, celebrate the young couple.
Performances
The opera premiered very successfully on May 24, 1899 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris . Many other performances followed in the early 20th century , mainly in France . After the end of the Second World War there were performances in Brussels in 1982, Geneva 1998, Strasbourg 2003, New York 2008, Dresden , Montreal and Brisbane in 2010 as well as at the Royal Opera House in London in 2011 and at the Komische Oper in Berlin in 2016. Premiere at the It was Metropolitan Opera New York in 2018. The 2007/2008 production by Johannes Erath in the Stadttheater Bern received the Götz Friedrich Prize .
music
The role of the prince is a trouser role and is written for a mezzo-soprano , but is sometimes sung by a tenor . As usual for the time the opera was written, the work contains a number of ballet scenes .
Recordings (selection)
| year | People: (Cendrillon, The Prince, Mme. De la Haltière, Pandolfe) |
Conductor and orchestra |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 |
Frederica von Stade , Nicolai Gedda , Jane Berbié , Jules Bastin |
Julius Rudel , |
Audio CD: Sony Classical, Cat: SM2K91178 |
| 2011 |
Joyce DiDonato , Alice Coote , Ewa Podleś , Jean-Philippe Lafont |
Bertrand de Billy , |
DVD: Virgin Classical, Cat: 6025099 |
| 2018 |
Kim-Lillian Strebel , Anat Czarny , Katharina Melnikova, Anja Jung, Juan Orozco |
Fabrice Bollon , Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra |
DVD / Blu Ray: Naxos, Cat: 2.110563 |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cendrillon first night: pictures and reviews. Information on the 2011 performance at the Royal Opera House
- ↑ Peter Jungblut : Cinderella without a happy ending. Review of the 2016 performance at the Komische Oper Berlin on BR-Klassik
- ^ Cendrillon in the Archives of the Metropolitan Opera New York , accessed on May 1, 2019.
- ^ Discography on Cendrillon at Operadis.
Web links
- Cendrillon : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto at operatoday (French, PDF)
- Action by Cendrillon (Massenet) on Opera-Guide landing page due to URL change currently not available