Obras

Información de la obra y contexto de creación

Cendrillon is a comic chamber opera with dialogue, in three acts with music and libretto by Pauline Viardot, based on the story of Cinderella. Written for an amateur audience or for students of Pauline's studio and intended to give them the necessary learning experience for the operatic stage. The work, for a cast of seven with piano orchestration, was premiered in Pauline's salon in Paris on 23 April 1904, when she was 83 years old, and was published the same year. 
The plot remains relatively faithful to Perrault's original fairy tale, but takes a much more light-hearted approach than other operatic adaptations of the same theme. The wicked stepmother is replaced by a bumbling, misguided stepfather and the Fairy Godmother (La Fée) appears as a guest at the party and entertains the guests with a song. 
Viardot navigated the tradition that demonised women's public vocation by creating a new image of the woman-artist that allowed her to carve out a unique position in society. A position that allowed her to teach at the Paris Conservatoire, support the careers of budding male musicians, earn the respect of royalty, publish and perform her own musical compositions.

As precursors of Pauline we must consider Maddalena Casulana (1540-1590) composer, magnificent lutenist, organist and famous singer, whose approach to music as a profession is similar to that of a man; Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) composer and singer of great reputation, she published eight books of music which she was able to make known to a wide public thanks to her commitment; Maria Teresa D'Agnesi (1720-1795), author of four operas, not only conducted her own works, but also the preparatory rehearsals and was responsible for the choice of musicians and singers. Like Pauline and Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847), she had a music salon in which she entertained illustrious musicians. Other opera creators were: Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729), Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824) and Louise Bertin (1805-1877) among others. 

As successors of Pauline Viardot we can consider the Paris-born Mélanie Bonis (1858-1937) and Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944), the composer Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927), disciple of the great pianist and composer Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-1896), friend and admirer of Pauline Viardot (1821-1910); Marie Jaëll (1846-1925), piano virtuoso, composer and great pedagogue, whose salon had a great influence on Parisian life. Later, the sisters Nadia (1887-1979) and Lili Boulanguer (1893-1918) appeared in the same Parisian context.

Indicaciones

The orchestration of the opera is written for piano only. Pauline Viardot makes ingenious use of the technical aspects of this instrument, including the timbre of its many registers, the smoothness of the sostenuto pedal, the ability to play accents, staccato and contrasting dynamic passages. The character of Cendrillon has many vocal lines (lyrical, often long, and remaining in the upper register) without accompaniment. These lyrical lines coincide with those of the Prince when they sing in duet. In contrast, the sisters' lines are rhythmically difficult with melodies containing large intervallic leaps. The most difficult passages in Viardot's work were composed for the role of La Fée. These passages contain long melodies and cadenzas of an octave or more that twist through many harmonic transitions and rise into the higher registers of the voice.

This work can be used as an example of a chamber operetta, within the contents of Romanticism, when mentioning the importance of the musical salons run by women, or the importance of the piano as an orchestral instrument, when observing the vocal repertoire, etc. within the contents of History and in those subjects that may be relevant in Secondary Education and Baccalaureate.
In Professional Conservatories and in Advanced Music Education, in the subjects of History, Analysis and Singing (opera).

Documentos

Esta ficha no tiene documentos anexos