La Cenerentola Was To Be March 21, 2020, Met Opera Saturday Broadcast

Summary: Rossini’s La Cenerentola was to be the March 21, 2020, Met Opera Saturday broadcast, airing as 16th in the season’s 23 radio matinees.

Making her role debut in the title role of Angelina/Cenerentola in the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught sings opposite Mexican operatic tenor Javier Camarena, who reprises his role debut as the Prince from the 2013-2014 Met Opera season’s revival of Cesare Lievi’s staging of Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter July 2, 2019

Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola was to be the March 21, 2020, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast, airing at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and numbering as the 16th of 23 scheduled Saturday radio matinees during the 2019-2020 Met Opera season.

Nineteenth-century Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868) set his musical score for La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo (Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant), to an Italian libretto by Italian opera librettist and poet Jacopo Ferretti (July 16, 1784-March 7, 1852). The literary source for Ferretti’s libretto was the Cendrillon (Cinderella) story by French fairy tale collector Charles Perrault (Jan. 12, 1628-May 16, 1703. Cendrillon appeared in 1697 in Perrault’s Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé (Stories or Tales From Past Times).

Ferretti also sourced his libretto from two other opera librettos. French playwright Charles Guillaume Étienne (Jan. 5, 1778-March 13, 1845) wrote the French libretto for Cendrillon, an opera-féerie (fairytale opera) by Maltese-born French composer Nicolas Isouard (May 16, 1773-March 23, 1818). Isouard’s Cendrillion premiered Feb. 22, 1810, at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Italian librettist and tenor Francesco Fiorini wrote the Italian libretto for Agatina, o la virtù premiata, a dramma giocoso (drama with jokes) by Italian composer Stefano Pavesi (Jan. 22, 1779-July 28, 1850). Pavesi’s Agatina premiered April 10, 1814, at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala.

Rossini imbued his fairytale opera with an atmosphere of reality by avoiding magical elements and by setting La Cenerentola in his time period. The plot unfolds in Salerno, a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea’s Gulf of Salerno in Southern Italy.

Rossini’s La Cenerentola premiered Jan. 25, 1817, at Teatro Valle (Valley Theater) in Rome, Italy. The opera house is located in central Rome’s Sant’Eustachio neighborhood (rione Sant’Eustachio).

La Cenerentola received its Metropolitan Opera premiere on Oct. 16, 1997. In the 1997-1998 season, the fairytale opera received 12 performances.

The 2019-2020 Met Opera season offers six performances of La Cenerentola. The season’s first performance took place Thursday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The month’s four additional performances happen Tuesday, March 17, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday matinee broadcast, March 21, at 12:30 p.m.; Wednesday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. Closing night is slated for Friday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m.

Update: The Metropolitan Opera announced via Facebook Thursday, March 12, 2020, the cancellation of the rest of the 2019-2020 season due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic. The Metropolitan Opera Archives Database (MetOpera Database) entry of March 12, 2020, noted the cancellation of 58 performances. Operas affected by the cancellation were identified as La Bohème, La Cenerentola, Così Fan Tutte, Der Fliegende Holländer, Kát'a Kabanová, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Maria Stuarda, Simon Boccanegra, Tosca, La Traviata, Turandot and Werther.

Update: The opera company's coronavirus-occasioned closure affected all six performances of La Cenerentola scheduled for the 2019-2020 season. The opera was not performed in the 2019-2020 season.

The two-act opera has an estimated run time of 3 hours 16 minutes. Act I spans 101 minutes. An intermission of 32 minutes follows. Act II runs for 63 minutes.

James Gaffigan had been scheduled to conduct all performances. The American conductor made his Metropolitan Opera debut Sept. 25, 2018, in the opera house’s 1,321st performance of La Bohème by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Tara Erraught had been scheduled to perform the title role as Angelina, who is called Cenerentola (from Latin cinis, accusative cinerem, “cold ashes” and Italian: cenere, plural ceneri, “ash, cinders”) by her stepfather and two stepsisters, Clorinda and Tisbe. The Irish mezzo-soprano made her Metropolitan Opera debut Sept. 26, 2017, as The Muse/Nicklausse in the opera house’s 269th performance of Les Contes d'Hoffmann by German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach (June 20, 1819-Oct. 5, 1880).

Javier Camarena had been scheduled to appear as Don Ramiro, Prince of Salerno, who recognizes ragged Cenerentola as the veiled guest at his ball by her bracelet. The Mexican operatic tenor made his Metropolitan Opera debut Oct. 1, 2011, as Count Almaviva in the opera house’s 587th performance of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Davide Luciano had been scheduled to appear as Dandini, Don Ramiro’s valet, whom the Prince enlists in a princely masquerade. The Italian baritone made his Metropolitan Opera debut Jan. 16, 2018, as Belcore in the opera house’s 293rd performance of L’Elisir d’Amore by 19th century Italian bel canto opera composer Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848). In the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Davide Luciano also performs as La Bohème’s Schaunard in the New Year’s Eve Gala.

Maurizio Muraro had been scheduled to appear as Don Magnifico, Baron of Montefiascone and Cenerentola’s stepfather. The Italian operatic bass-baritone made his Metropolitan Opera debut Nov. 2, 2005, as Dr. Bartolo in the opera house’s 419th performance of Le Nozze di Figaro by 18th century Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791). During the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Maurizio Muraro reprises his debut role as Dr. Bartolo in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

Christian Van Horn had been scheduled to appear as Alidoro, a philosopher who formerly tutored the Prince of Salerno and who escorts Cenerentola to the Prince’s ball. The American bass-baritone made his Metropolitan Opera debut Dec. 6, 2013, as Pistola in the opera house’s 176th performance of Falstaff by 19th century opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). In the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Christian Van Horn also appears as Colline in Puccini’s La Bohème and in the New Year’s Eve Gala and as the Doctor in Wozzeck by Austrian composer Alban Berg (Feb. 9, 1885-Dec. 24, 1935).

The 2019-2020 Met Opera season would have marked the sixth revival of the opera house’s only production of Rossini’s Cinderella opera. Cesare Lievi’s staging debuted as a new production for the Metropolitan Opera’s October 1997 premiere of La Cenerentola. Revivals were previously staged in the 1999-2000, 2002-2003, 2005-2006, 2008-2009 and 2013-2014 Met Opera seasons.

The Italian dramaturg and stage director’s production team comprises set and costume designer Maurizio Balò and lighting designer Gigi Saccomandi. Daniela Schiavone is credited as the production’s choreographer.

The takeaway for La Cenerentola as the March 21, 2020, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is that Gioachino Rossini’s opera about the triumph of a stepdaughter’s goodness would have aired as the 16th of 23 Saturday matinees broadcast weekly through Saturday, May 9, 2020.

In the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Mexican operatic tenor Javier Camarena reprises his role debut as the Prince in three April 2014 performances during the fifth revival of Italian stage director’s Cesare Lievi’s staging of Rossini’s La Cenerentola: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook April 25, 2014

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Making her role debut in the title role of Angelina/Cenerentola in the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught sings opposite Mexican operatic tenor Javier Camarena, who reprises his role debut as the Prince from the 2013-2014 Met Opera season’s revival of Cesare Lievi’s staging of Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter July 2, 2019, @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/1146250008578203654

In the 2019-2020 Met Opera season, Mexican operatic tenor Javier Camarena reprises his role debut as the Prince in three April 2014 performances during the fifth revival of Italian stage director’s Cesare Lievi’s staging of Rossini’s La Cenerentola: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook April 25, 2014, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10154100510630533/

For further information:

“Debut: Javier Camarena.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 354056 Il Barbiere di Siviglia {587} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/01/2011.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=354056

"Debut: Tara Erraught." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID:356746 Les Contes d'Hoffmann {269} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/26/2017.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356746

“Debuts: Alessandro Corbelli, Cesare Lievi, Maurizio Baln, Gigi Saccomandi, Daniela Schiavone.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 330072 Metropolitan Opera Premiere La Cenerentola {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/16/1997.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=330072

“Debuts: Domingo Hindoyan, Davide Luciano.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356855 L’Elisir d’Amore {293} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/16/2018.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356855

“Debuts: James Gaffigan, Nicole Car, Etienne Dupuis.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356999 La Bohème {1321} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/25/2018.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356999

“Debuts: Mark Wigglesworth, Maurizio Muraro . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351338 Le Nozze di Figaro {419} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/02/2005.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351338

“Debuts: Peter Van Praet, Paolo Fanale, Carlo Bosi, Christian Van Horn.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355173 Falstaff {176} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/06/2013.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355173a

Gallo, Denise P. Gioachino Rossini: A Guide to Research. Routledge Music Bibliographies. New York NY; London UK: Routledge, Great Britain, 2002.

helcatj. "The Metropolitan Opera Company 2019-2020 Season." Showcase Opera and Events blog. Aug. 13, 2019.
Available @ https://showcaseoperaandeventsblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/13/the-metropolitan-opera-company-2019-2020-season/

Marriner, Derdriu. “Cendrillon Is the April 28, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, April 23, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/04/cendrillon-is-april-28-2018-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Der Fliegende Holländer Was To Be March 14, 2020, Met Opera Saturday Broadcast." Earth and Space News. Monday, March 9, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/kata-kabanova-is-may-2-2020-met-opera.html

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Don’t miss the vocal fireworks of mezzo-soprano @TaraErraught and @tenorjcamarena in La Cenerentola (“Cinderella”), Rossini’s enchanting adaptation of Perrault’s fairy tale. On stage at the Met next season: http://bit.ly/2NnRTza Photo by Ken Howard / Met Opera.” Twitter. July 2, 2019.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/1146250008578203654

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "In light of the circumstances involving the coronavirus and in consultation with the Office of the Mayor of New York City, we regret to inform our audience that all Met performances have been canceled through March 31, including tonight’s planned performance of La Cenerentola. This Saturday’s Live in HD cinema presentation of Der Fliegende Holländer has also been canceled. Thank you for your understanding. Learn More: www.metopera.org/updates." Facebook. March 12, 2020.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/10163327604920533

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Tenor Javier Camarena made history at the Met tonight by encoring his Act II aria in La Cenerentola! He's only the third soloist to encore at the Met in the past 70 years. Photo: Marty Sohl/Met Opera.” Facebook. April 25, 2014.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10154100510630533/

“Metropolitan Opera Premiere: La Cenerentola.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 330072 Metropolitan Opera Premiere La Cenerentola {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/16/1997.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=330072

"Season Cancellation." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 357448 Season Cancellation March 12-May 9, 2020. Metropolitan Opera House: 03/12/2020.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=357448

Woolfe, Zachary. "The Metropolitan Opera Season That Vanished." The New York Times > Arts > Music. May 13, 2020.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-coronavirus.html