In Italian with German surtitles | Guest performance Theater und Orchester Heidelberg

Every day, Angelina longs for a better life. Disparagingly called Cenerentola by her two nasty sisters, she lives a bleak and exhausting life as a maid in the run-down house of her stepfather Don Magnifico. While the sisters are to be dressed up and brought to a wealthy man, Angelina has to scrub the floor. Despite all the work, humiliation and injustice, she remains sincere and kind. Everything changes when Alidoro, Prince Ramiro's teacher and companion, sets off to look for a suitable wife for his master and makes the acquaintance of poor Cenerentola ...

A myth: whether Cinderella, Cendrillon, Cinderella or the Italian Cenerentola. Musical, fairy tale, ballet - or Italian opera. The story is familiar to every child and every adult, whether a fan of fairy tales or not, and the title heroine, the young girl disadvantaged by fate, is one of the best-known characters in Europe.

In his last opera, Gioachino Rossini succeeds in combining the high art of bel canto with the comedy of commedia dell'arte. With "La Cenerentola", he created a musical masterpiece which, between sparkling coloratura and effervescent parlandi, tells the touching story of a young woman whose good heart triumphs over wickedness.

The libretto by Jacopo Ferretti is based on the text by Charles-Guillaume Étienne for Nicolas Isouard's opera "Cendrillon" (1810), which in turn is based on the fairy tale of the same name by the writer and "fairy tale collector" Charles Perrault. This version only follows the main features of the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. Rossini does not include the lost dancing shoe or the pea reading. However, the moral quintessence is the same in every version: the victory of goodness and simplicity over greed, arrogance and oppression.

Due to its many light-hearted elements, the opera was premiered at the Teatro Valle in Rome on January 25, 1817 as a prelude to the carnival season. The audience at the premiere initially reacted with scorn and derision. However, the disinterest soon gave way to great enthusiasm. During Rossini's lifetime, his work became a worldwide success, with performances in English, German, Russian, Polish, French and Czech following. Alongside "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" ("The Barber of Seville"), "La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo" ("Cinderella or The Triumph of Goodness") is today considered Gioachino Rossini's best-known and most frequently performed opera.