from Act I, Scene 1 of the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti

Role: Alidoro, a philosopher and the tutor of Don Ramiro

Voice Part: bass       Fach: lyric bass

Setting: The mansion of Don Magnifico

Synopsis: Don Magnifico and his daughters have been invited to the Prince's ball. Don Magnifico will not allow Cenerentola to go along, however. After the rest of the family leaves, Cenerentola is left alone with Alidoro who is in disguise as one of the King's officials. Alidoro realizes the goodness in Cenerentola and tells her that he will bring her to the ball himself. She believes that he is making fun of her. To show her that he means what he says, he throws off his cloak to reveal his noble clothes beneath and sings to her that God himself has looked down upon her and shows favor upon her and thus, she should not be afraid of going to the ball. He then goes on to say that his carriage is coming and, although she must be confused and upset, she will soon be in happier days.

from Act I, Scene 1 of the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti

Role: Alidoro, a philosopher and the tutor of Don Ramiro

Voice Part: bass       Fach: lyric bass

Setting: The mansion of Don Magnifico

Synopsis: Don Magnifico and his daughters have been invited to the Prince's ball. Don Magnifico will not allow Cenerentola to go along, however. After the rest of the family leaves, Cenerentola is left alone with Alidoro who is in disguise as one of the King's officials. Alidoro realizes the goodness in Cenerentola and tells her that he will bring her to the ball himself. She asks him if his offer is some sort of play and he responds with this aria, saying that the whole world is a stage.

from Act II, Scene 3 of the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti

Role: Angelina (Cenerentola), Don Magnifico's step-daughter

Voice Part: contralto       Fach: lyric mezzo

Setting: The throne room

Synopsis: Now married to Prince Ramiro, Cenerentola asks her husband to act upon her desire for vengeance - by granting a pardon to her relatives. She then goes on to sing that her life has been transformed by love as quickly as lightning. She continues, singing that she forgives all who wronged her before and wants only to embrace them. No longer by the cinders will she sing her sad song!

from Act II, Scene 2 of the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti

Role: Angelina (Cenerentola), Don Magnifico's step-daughter

Voice Part: contralto       Fach: lyric mezzo

Setting: The mansion of Don Magnifico

Synopsis: Cenerentola has returned from the Prince's ball and is now back to her usual place tending the fire. She sings of a king who looked everywhere for a wife and at last found her in a simple girl like herself.

from Act I, Scene 1 of the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti

Role: Dandini, the valet of Don Ramiro

Voice Part: baritone       Fach: lyric baritone

Setting: The mansion of Don Magnifico

Synopsis: Dandini is disguised as his master, Prince Ramiro, in order to help his master investigate the marital possibilities at Don Magnifico's house. He sings that, although he has hopped like a bee from "flower" to "flower", he cannot find a woman who is special enough to be his wife. Meanwhile, he makes side remarks to Prince Ramiro (who is disguised as a courtier) about how well he is doing.

from Act I, Scene 2 (sometimes performed at the beginning of the second act) of the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti

Role: Don Magnifico, baron of Monte Fiascone, father of Clorinda and Tisbe

Voice Part: bass       Fach: buffo bass

Setting: The palace of the Prince

Synopsis: Don Magnifico has amazed others with his drinking capacity to the point that he has been pronounced the Prince's new steward. He decides that his first act of duty will be to write a proclamation banning the mixing of water and wine.

from Act I, Scene 1 of the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti

Role: Don Magnifico, baron of Monte Fiascone, father of Clorinda and Tisbe

Voice Part: bass       Fach: buffo bass

Setting: The mansion of Don Magnifico

Synopsis: After being awakened by his children, Don Magnifico curses them and then goes on to tell them all about the dream he had in which he was turned into a donkey. He then goes on to interpret his dream, finishing with the idea that the dream predicts the family's rise to royalty.

from Act II, Scene 1 of the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti

Role: Don Magnifico, baron of Monte Fiascone, father of Clorinda and Tisbe

Voice Part: bass       Fach: buffo bass

Setting: The palace of the Prince

Synopsis: After a mysterious beauty has arrived at the Ball, Don Magnifico and his daughters get together to discuss their plan of action. They are so confident that one of them will win the Prince that Don Magnifico believes he will be granted a high position of power in the Prince's retinue. He acts out a meeting between a female petioner and himself playing both parts.

from Act II, Scene 1 of the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: Jacopo Ferretti

Role: Don Ramiro, the prince of Salerno

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: tenor leggiero

Setting: The palace of the Prince

Synopsis: Cenerentola has given Don Ramiro (who is in disguise as the Prince's squire) a bracelet and tells him that he will find her when he finds the bracelet's match. She then leaves. Alidoro encourages Ramiro to go after her. Don Ramiro declares that he will no longer be in disguise and sings that he will find her. For, he is guided by love and once he finds her, she shall never leave him. The bracelet she has given him glitters brightly, but the light in her eyes is far more bright.