Little Angels
The name of the title character of Rossini’s Cinderella is Angelina, though her family never even bothers to call her by her name. Angelina means, in Italian, a “little angel,” which relates her to the subtitle of the opera, “the triumph of goodness.” And what a group of little angels have performed this role in our history—angels on stage, giants of their art.
We consider the legacy of a role very heavily, not only when we are casting but when we are deciding whether to perform an opera at all. We would never decide to present Cinderella to our public unless an artist is available who will honor the legacy of the voices who have come before them.
HGO was the first major U.S. company to present Rossini’s opera in modern times. Of all of Rossini’s nearly 40 operas, Cinderella was an extreme rarity on world stages throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, occasionally getting revived for a star mezzo-soprano. It was only in 1952, in a famous production at the Glyndebourne Festival in Sussex, England, that the opera found a public again. So, HGO’s decision to perform it so early in our history was an innovative one. That first HGO production, in 1957, starred the remarkable Frances Bible (1919-2001), one of the great stars of the New York City Opera, and one of those rare singers who could sing almost anything with incredible accomplishment. Two years after Cinderella, Frances returned to Houston as our very first Rosenkavalier, so she was an important part of the company’s legacy.
Nearly 20 years would pass before Cinderella returned, in 1979, this time starring Maria Ewing (1950-2022), one of the most versatile singers in opera, who performed everything from Cherubino to Salome. No one who experienced a performance from Ewing was ever likely to forget her.
The Italian sensation Cecilia Bartoli (b. 1966) made her U.S. stage debut at HGO in 1993, in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, igniting a sensation for her artistry. She returned two years later for the composer’s Cinderella, filmed for television, and with a company of Italians that brought the opera to memorable life. Bartoli set a new standard for Rossini that had been established by Callas, Sutherland, Horne, and others—and audiences could never get enough of her.
The most recent little angel is one of the most treasured artists in our history, Joyce DiDonato, who performed the premiere of this new Comediants production of Cinderella in 2007, conducted by Edoardo Müller, and she and I recorded the opera for Decca a few months later at Barcelona’s Liceu. Joyce brought to Rossini a rare energy and depth, and her finale, “Non più mesta,” remains one of the greatest single moments in the company’s memories.
These remarkable artists now pass the baton to Isabel Leonard, who has already won Houston hearts for her Charlotte in Werther and her unforgettable Maria in The Sound of Music. The angels are watching and smiling, and no doubt humming along.