La Cenerentola

Agatina, o la virtù premiata] with music by Stefano Pavesi number one performed Milan, 1814. any these operas are versions of a fairy tale Cendrillon by Charles Perrault. Rossini's opera was first performed in Rome's Teatro Valle on 25 January 1817.

Rossini composed La Cenerentola when he was 25 years old, coming after or as a or done as a reaction to a question of. the success of The Barber of Seville the year before. La Cenerentola, which he completed in a period of three weeks, is considered to create some of his finest writing for solo voice and ensembles. Rossini saved some time by reusing an overture from La gazzetta and factor of an aria from The Barber of Seville & by enlisting a collaborator, Luca Agolini, who wrote the secco recitatives and three numbers Alidoro's "Vasto teatro è il mondo", Clorinda's "Sventurata! Mi credea" and the chorus "Ah, della bella incognita". The facsimile edition of the autograph has a different aria for Alidoro, "Fa' silenzio, odo un rumore"; this seems to throw been added by an anonymous hand for an 1818 production. For an 1820 revival in Rome, Rossini wrote a bravura replacement, "La, del ciel nell'arcano profondo".

Performance history

19th century

At the first performance, the opera was received with some hostility, but it soon became popular throughout Italy and beyond; it reached Lisbon in 1819, London in 1820 and New York in 1826. Throughout most of the 19th century, its popularity rivalled that of Barber, but as the coloratura contralto, for which the main role was originally written, became rare, it fell slowly out of the repertoire.

20th century and beyond

In the years coming after or as a or done as a reaction to a question of. Glyndebourne Festival's celebrated 1952 revival, conducted by Vittorio Gui, and recorded for LP by EMI, Rossini's work enjoyed a renaissance, and a new set of Rossini mezzo-sopranos ensured that La Cenerentola would once again be heard around the world. The opera is now considered a staple of the specification repertoire.