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Reviews — The New York Times
From the New York Times - February 18, 1912
Cinderella The Theme of
Latest Massenet Opera
“Cendrillon,” Jules Massenet's fifteen work for the stage and the eleventh opera of this composer to be heard in New York, is to be performed for the first time here next Tuesday evening, although Chicago, Philadelphia, and other American cities have already heard the work. Two members of the original Brussels company are present singers at the Metropolitan Opera House - Mrs. Homer, who sang Mme. de la Haltière, and Mme. Maubourg, who was the Prince Charming of that production.
However, it is to the Chicago-Philadelphia company that we are to look for the production of this novelty, and the presence of Miss Mary Garden in that company is the direct inspiration of the production, as she has been for other Massenet works in this country. Miss Garden herself was responsible for the selection of her rôle of Prince Charming. The part of Cinderella in the work is perhaps longer, but it is less effective.
Besides, the rôle of Prince Charming gives Miss Garden a chance to appear as a boy, a chance she has had twice before in her operatic career - in Massenet's “Cherubin,” and again in the same composer's “Jongleur de Notre Dame.” She had never sung in “Cendrillon” before her appearance in Prince Charming in Philadelphia last fall.
The story of Cinderella, like so many other fairy legends, is of Oriental origin. It existed in Egypt in a legend of Rhodopis and Psammetichus. It appears in German lore in the sixteenth century, and is among the fairy tales of Grimm. Perrault and Mme. d'Aunoy popularized it for seventeenth century France. Some authorities allege that the glass slipper is an error which has arisen from the confusion of “verre” (glass) with the old “vair” (fur). This, however, is a point of dispute.
Perrault's story of “Cinderella” has inspired many composers and operas by this name, which in French becomes “Cendrillon,” in Italian “Cenerentola,” and in German “ Aschenbrödel,” are numerous in the history of opera. Clément and Larousse in their ”Dictionaire Lyrique” mention five ”Cinderellas,” and these do not include either Massenet's, Blech's, or Wolf-Ferrari's work.
There is a record of a performance of a work in one act called ”Cendrillon” at the Paris Opéra-Comique on Feb. 21, 1759. The words were by Anseaume, the music by Laurette. In 1809 a work by the same name written by Steibelt, the composer, was produced at St. Petersburg.
The next ”Cendrillon” was the work of Nicolo Isouard, with words by Etienne. It was produced at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris on Feb. 22, 1810. This three-act opera is said to have conformed closely to the tale of Perrault, and the rôle of the Fairy was of first importance. An air in the first act, ”Je suis modeste et soumise,” became popular. The opera was revived, re-orchestrated by Adam at the Opéra-Comique in 1845. Adam added some brasses, some tremolos, and even an air to the original score.
The most important of the existing Cinderella operas is Rossini's ”La Cenerentola.” This work, for which Feretti wrote the libretto, was produced at the Valle Theatre in Rome during the Carnival in 1817. Paris heard it in 1822. Ferretti considerably changed the story as it is ordinarily told, omitting the supernatural elements at the request of the composer.
The work had enormous success and by some is considered the equal of ”Il Barbiere.” It was sung in Europe and America as a part of the répertoire until within the last thirty or forty years, since when it has disappeared from the bills. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the music is of extreme floridity and requires powers of execution, both from the Cinderella and the Prince, a tenor rôle, which are beyond what may be expected of most singers of the present day.
Rossini, like Gluck and some others of his forerunners, had not hesitated to take airs from his earlier operas to use in this one. However, much of the work was new. Among the successful numbers of the opera may be mentioned ”Miel Rampolli,” the duet; ”Un Soave non so Chè,” a sextet, a comic duet, and the famous rondo, ”Non pui mesta,” which concludes the work.
Cenerentola in this opera is a contralto part, but a contralto part of great range. It was sung by such singers as Malibran, and later by her sister, Pauline Viardot. Marietta Alboni found it one of her most successful rôles. She never failed to get an ovation after her singing of the rondo. It is interesting to remember that she made her American d‚but in this opera on Dec. 27, 1871. Adelaide Phillips also sang in the opera frequently. Occasionally a soprano was found with sufficient vocal range to attempt it. Henriette Sonntag was one of these.
Clément and Larousse give Manuel Garcia credit for a ”Cenerentola,” which they say was produced in New York in 1826. This probably was a version of Rossini's opera.
Wolf-Ferrari's ”Cenerentola” was produced at Venice in 1900, the year after Massenet's work by the same name had been heard in Paris. Later Wolf-Ferrari's opera was sung at Bremen in 1902 as ”Aschenbrödel.” Leo Blech, the composer of ”Versiegelt,” is also credited with an ”Aschenbrödel.”
When Massenet announced that he would forsake the field of opera for the moment to set a fairy tale to music it was supposed that he had been inspired by the extraordinary success which ”Hänsel und Gretel” was having all over the operatic world. Humperdinck's opera, which was immediately successful when first produced, was given to the world in 1893. ”Cendrillon” was produced at the Paris Opéra-Comique six years later.
Henri Cain, Massenet's librettist, however, wrote to the critic, Adolphe Jullien, that he and the composer had worked on the plot and, in fact, sketched out their work before Humperdinck had launched his, and that the success of ”Hänsel und Gretel,” far from stimulating them to go on with ”Cendrillon,” almost persuaded them to abandon it.
The subjects, of course, have nothing in common, nor have the methods of treatment. The only likeness between the two is that they both deal with fairy stories. Massenet, it is known, has been able to compete with other composers on their own ground. Witness his “La Navarraise,” as example of opera written in the style of the Italian “veristic” school - murder, intermezzo, and all.
“Cendrillon” was produced at the Paris Opéra-Comique on May 24, 1899. The cast included Mlle. Giraudon as Cendrillon; Mme. Deschamps-Jéhin as Mme. de la Haltière; Mlle. Emelen as Prince Charming; Mme. Bréjean-Gravière as the Fairy; Mr. Fugère as Pandolfe, and Mr. Huberdeau as the First Minister. André Messager conducted, and the ballet was headed by Mlle. Chasles who has since become a dancing mistress and who taught Miss Garden her successfully executed Salome dance. Albert Carré, who had been recently appointed director of the Opéra-Comique, staged the work with extraordinary splendor, to show what he could do in that direction.
Although the opera had success, it has not been heard much in Paris since. The most recent revival was at the Gaieté some three or four Winters ago.
Adolphe Jullien found much to like in the work. “It must have been a pleasant task for Massenet,” he writes, “to busy himself with this light poem, to exercise his skill and experience in inventing music equally airy and diminutive, and it is only just to say that he succeeded. This score is one of those in which he has shown the greatest suppleness and skill, without putting much musical pith into it, but lavishing ingenious effects of rhythm, odd contrasts of colors, and enlivening volumes of sound whenever the attention is in danger of flagging.
“It seems to me,” continues this critic, “that the most graceful passage in the whole world is probably the tender declaration of Cendrillon: `You are my Prince Charming,' where the oboe repeats, bar by bar, with intense sweetness, what the voice has just sung.”
Louis Schneider declares that Massenet “dusted the tale of Perrault and the libretto of Henri Cain with a fine powder of sounds.” He was particularly impressed by the skill displayed in evoking the spirit of another age. (The epoch of “Cendrillon” is that of Louis XIII.)
“Massenet,” says Schneider, “has given to his imitations the stilted grace and the deliberate simplicity of the dances of the reign of Louis XIII., which he has succeeded in reviving; the minuet of Mme. de la Haltière, the concert at the King's, with its odd modulations, the entry of the daughters of the nobility, very original; that of the fiancées, accompanied by the oboes in thirds; that of Mandores, with delicious rhythms; the Florentine, and finally the Rigaudon - all this is like bringing back to life the colors of that time; it means a power of penetration, a sharpness of vision which pierces the ages - in a word, a skill that borders on the marvelous.”
It should be added that “Cendrillon” follows “Sapho” in the list of Massenet's works for the theatre and precedes “Grisélidis.”
Hugues Imbert gives the following interesting details of Massenet's method of composing, which are reproduced in Henry T. Finck's “Massenet and his Operas.”:
“After having mentally arranged the main outlines he begins by making a lead pencil sketch, which he copies in ink almost without a change, and from the sketch, which somewhat resembles an arrangement for piano, he makes the orchestral score. His dexterity equals that of the composer of the `Danse Macabre,' who also, like Massenet, composes without the aid of a piano. There is never a rough orchestral draft, so to speak, of the score, not that he never goes over again what he has written; but on the whole there are few corrections. The minutest shades, the movements of the bow, even, are marked with scrupulous care. But the composer is so sure of what he does that he sends the orchestral score to the printer before it has been played, and it is this score that the conductor uses.”
An operatic manager once said to Massenet: “My dear master, give me the secret of your abnormal creative ability. Every day you listen to a crowd of singers, you attend every rehearsal, and besides, you are professor at the Conservatoire. When do you find time to work?”
“When you are asleep,” Massenet answered.
Every morning from 5 to 10 sees him at his table, busy with his manuscripts or his correspondence, and for every visitor he has a few minutes to spare, provided he is punctual. Casual callers he receives in his studio at his publisher's. His home at Egreville (Seine-et-Marne) is open to his friends only. Here he cultivates the flowers he loves, and gives to his grape vines his personal attention. Here, in rural solitude and quiet, he also composer his operas. His favorite attire when he is at work is a red robe de chambre. He calls the wearing of this “homarder,” Schneider tells us - “homard” being French for lobster.
It is probable that “Cendrillon” exists in the annals of operatic performances in San Francisco; it is certain that it has been performed at the French Opera in New Orleans. However, the first performance by the Chicago-Philadelphia Company took place in the latter city on Nov. 6, 1911. The cast as follows:
Cendrillon Maggie Teyte
Mme. de la Haltière Louise Berat
Le Prince Mary Garden
La Fée Jeannie Dufau
Noémie Mabel Riegelman
Dorothée Marie Cavan
Pandolfe Hector Dufranne
Le Roi Henri Scotti
Le Doyen de la Faculté Francesco Daddi
Le Surintendent des Plaisirs Desire Defrere
Le Premier Ministre Constantin Nicolay
Voix du Heraut Charles Meyer
Conductor Cleofonte Campanini
It will be observed that Gustave Huberdeau, who was heard in the small part of the
Prime Minister in the original Paris production, has relinquished that rôle. In Chicago
Alice Zeppilli appeared on some occasions as Cendrillon. It is the Philadelphia cast,
however, which will be heard in New York.
The first scene of Massenet's fairy opera is laid in the large hall at the home of
Mme. de la Haltière. This woman is known to her acquaintances as the queen of snobs. She
and her daughters, Noémie and Dorothée, daughters by a former husband, dominate the meek
father of Lucette, who is known as Cendrillon. The proud woman practically reduces the
beautiful girl to servitude, Cendrillon the while lamenting the death of her own mother,
which occurred when she was an infant.
The piece opens with the preparations which Mme. de la Haltière and her daughters are
making for the ball which is to given at the King's palace. With much pomp they depart for
the palace, where it is the mother's hope that one of her daughters may find favor in the
eyes of the Prince. The husband, who presents a comic sight in his ill-fitting finery,
accompanies them, but Cendrillon is compelled to remain at home.
Weary and disconsolate, the girl is left alone and seeking her accustomed seat at the
fireplace is soon wrapped in slumber. Presently a voice is heard and a vision emerges from
the blackened depths behind the andirons. It is Cendrillon's Fairy Godmother, whose
radiant form illuminates the room. Cendrillon is informed that she is to go to the ball,
but that she must return before midnight. The girl points to her rags, but the fairy
godmother brings her glittering raiment; encasing her tiny feet in crystal slippers. She
also receives a talisman which prevents her being recognized by the members of her family.
Then with a gesture the fairy creates a vision of a gorgeous chariot in which Cendrillon
is to be conveyed to the palace.
The second act discloses the ballroom in the palace. Nobles, retainers, and court
beauties crowd around the throne where Prince Charming is sitting, his mind detached from
the gay throng and their vain pleasures. His father, the King, wishes him to choose a
bride, but the Prince is bored with everything. In vain do the courtiers invent methods of
amusing him. Dorothée and Noémie endeavor to attract the attentions of the royal youth,
but he is impervious to their wiles.
Suddenly he spies a beautiful maiden, dainty and bewitching in her glittering gown.
His manner changes. It is a case of love at first sight. He goes to her side at once and
makes ardent declarations, to the great joy of the King. In the company of the Prince the
minutes speed rapidly until midnight sounds, when Cendrillon, remembering her promise,
breaks away and flees from the hall. In her haste she leaves behind her one of her glass
slippers, which the Prince retains.
The scene of the third act is the same as the of the first. Cendrillon is again by the
fireplace when Mme. de la Haltière and her daughters return from the ball. The shrew is
tormented by her recollections of the night - the utter demolition of her plan to ensnare
the Prince for one of her daughters. She speaks of the Prince's favorite at the ball so
bitterly that Cendrillon almost faints. Then her father turns in anger and drives the
shrewish wife and her daughters from the room. He tries to console Cendrillon, but she is
overcome with grief and decides to run away to the forest and die.
The scene changes to the Enchanted Oak under which the Fairy Godmother has brought
together the Prince and Cendrillon as if in a dream. They declare their eternal love, and
then fall asleep under the branches.
The first scene of the last act shows a terrace in the house of Mme. de la Haltière,
from which there is a view of the town below. The stepsisters are discussing the incidents
of the ball, and receive with scorn the intelligence that the Prince has determined to
learn the identity of the wearer of the glass slipper. Heralds have been sent broadcast
over many countries to bid all young women who would win the Prince's favor to appear at
Court and try on the slipper. Cendrillon hears the news with joy, for she believes that at
last she can find an end to her sorrows. The stepsisters, believing that the slipper will
fit one of them, depart with their mother for the palace.
While the orchestra plays the March of the Princesses, the scene changes to the
ballroom in the palace, where there is a great gathering to see the Princesses who have
come to try on the slipper. Noblewomen from many distant countries find their efforts
vain, and despair is written on the countenance of the Prince. But at last Cendrillon
enters the hall, and all eyes are turned on her as she quickly places the slipper on her
foot. The Prince enfolds her in his arms, and Mme. de la Haltière rushes up to say,
“My dear Lucette, whom I adore!”
Then all the stage, turning to the public sing:
La pièce est terminée. On a fait de son mieux.
Pour vous faire envoler par les beaux pays bleus.
Last updated December 30, 2006