It’s rarely performed, and “Massenet’s flawed yet astonishingly beautiful opera” (Guardian) is always compared with Rossini’s version. Cendrillon premiered when Massenet was on top of his formidable French success. He declared it would be his last lyric work (it wasn’t, but it is certainly lyrical). It was his 23rd opera (1899), following the others we are visiting (Manon, 1884, Werther, 1892, Thais 1894). And so different!
For Massenet, it’s all about the music. From Wikipedia: "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera notes that Massenet's sense of humor 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'. Another writer comments that Massenet's perfectly proportioned score moves from a scene worthy of Jean-Baptiste Lully's Armide (in Cendrillon's monologue), through Rossinian vocalises and archaic orchestrations to ballet movements on a par with Tchaikovsky."
And there’s a lot of variety in the music, nicely described in a Guardian review: “The orchestration, rich with harmonium, celeste and harp, and aglow with fluttering woodwind and solo string writing, displays Massenet's hunger for throwing every musical meat, fish and fowl into his recipe, with uneven results. From baroque ornament to Wagnerian swell to Debussy-like detachment, whether parodied or emulated it's all there.” As NY Times remarked, “Massenet obviously had fun with the score: doing his best impression of Baroque dances, conjuring an ethereal world out of Mendelssohn for the realm of the fairies, whipping duetting lovers to Wagnerian heights.”
The Fairy Godmother gets the highlights of Rossinian vocalises in her great aria “Oh sweet child”: (watch the scene with Britt Marie Aruhn & Frederica von Stade in 1982. We have a splendid performance from Cuban-American coloratura soprano, Eglise Gutiérrez (at right).
Wagnerian swell perhaps sometimes, but this opera, unlike Manon or Werther, is a pastiche of treats, rather than a music-drama. Massenet even, literally, lost the plot! Unlike Rossini, he played the traditional story pretty straight. There is none of the wild and wacky villainy that drives Rossini’s Cerentola, few of the bel canto athletics (except for the fairy godmother) and no tangled quintets. (You can read about Rossini’s Cinderella in our 2016 webpage here.) But Massenet didn’t stop at varying the story to fit in an extended and very lyrical duet, adding an odd episode of mystical meeting in dreamland to the implausibility of the plot. (The Guardian reviewer of the Glyndebourne production suggests it is reminiscent of Tristan und Isolde. ) Full synopsis, if you need it, is here.
Our production, by Laurent Pelly, has been around since it opened at Santa Fé Opera in 2006. Costuming is brilliant - meet the stepmother and sisters ... Wait till they are dressed for the ball...!)
We’re watching this production performed at Royal Opera House with Joyce DiDonato in 2011. (A brief trailer here.) Here’s a 2012 version of the same production with Rinat Shaham and Sophie Marilley in the first love duet.)
And with our performance, it’s all about Joyce DiDonato! A now famous singer, also an extraordinary actress, and activist, she takes on the pathos and the joy with verve. NY Times commented, “Ms. DiDonato’s characteristically American balance of spunk and aw-shucks earnestness, of radiance and gumption, has served her well as Cinderella… Ms. DiDonato does sincerity better than anyone since Ms. von Stade. At 49, she can still step on stage and, with modest gestures and mellow sound, persuade you she’s a put-upon girl. She experiences the story with an open face and endearing ingenuousness, a sense of wonder that never turns saccharine. In soft-grained passages, she is often simply lovely.” The critic notes, “She had early success as the ill-treated Angelina in Rossini’s more famous, notably magic-free version of the story, “La Cenerentola,” which ends in a blaze of joyful coloratura…”
Here is Joyce DiDonato as Rossini’s heroine in the finale.) And here, on her own blog, is her take on Masssenet's not-perfect opera, “A gossamer fairy tale, in both story and MUSIC. And honestly? I find it unabashedly refreshing right about now!!”
Here's your trivia item for the week: Cendrillon was the first opera played with supertitles translating the libretto in New York: New York State Theater installed the system in September 1983 for a new production of the little known opera. There’s an intriguing piece here on the significance of surtitles, especially in the popularizing of Wagner!