According to the account given by librettist
Jacopo Ferretti, the genesis of this work – whose literary and musical aspects were both created with surprising speed – began in December 1816. Rossini was in Rome and tasked with writing a new opera for the
Teatro Valle, to be staged on
Saint Stephen's Day. An existing libretto,
Francesca di Foix, had unexpectedly been vetoed by the papal censor, leaving no time to amend the text so that it might satisfy all parties involved (
censorship,
impresario, and authors). A replacement would have to be found. Ferretti, despite harboring some ill-will against Rossini (the maestro had refused a libretto of his for
The Barber of Seville), nonetheless met with the composer and the
impresario Cartoni and agreed to join the project. However, when he began to suggest topics for the new work, one after another was rejected: too serious for the Carnival season in which the opera would premiere; too frivolous; too expensive and difficult to stage. Ferretti proposed more than two dozen subjects without success. Finally, between yawns, and with Rossini half asleep on a sofa, the poet mentioned
Cinderella. At this, Rossini roused himself sufficiently to challenge Ferretti on whether he dared write a libretto for the tale; Ferretti retorted with a dare for Rossini to clothe it in music. Rossini then asked the librettist if he had some verses ready to start working on. Ferretti replied, "despite my tiredness, tomorrow morning!" The composer nodded, wrapped himself in his clothes, and fell asleep. Ferretti worked through the night and had the first parts of the work ready as promised in the morning. He finished the libretto in twenty-two days of breakneck work, and Rossini completed the score in an equally hectic twenty-four days. Rossini saved some time by reusing an
overture from and part of an
aria from
The Barber of Seville and by enlisting a collaborator, Luca Agolini, who wrote the secco
recitatives and three numbers (Alidoro's "", Clorinda's "" and the chorus ""). The poet had serious doubts about the success of this opera; Rossini, on the other hand, predicted that it would conquer Italy in a year and spread to France and England in another: "the impresarios will fight for staging it, as well as the
prima donnas for being able to sing it".
La Cenerentola premiered on 25 January 1817, and quickly gained popularity both in Italy and internationally, despite a cold initial reception by the critics. In short, Rossini's prediction came entirely true, and
Cenerentola soon overshadowed even
Barber throughout the nineteenth century. The facsimile edition of the autograph has a different aria for Alidoro, ""; this seems to have been added by an anonymous hand for an 1818 production. For an 1820 revival in Rome, Rossini wrote a
bravura replacement, "". Despite
La Cenerentola's success, the collaboration between composer and librettist got no easier, and Ferretti wrote only one more libretto for Rossini,
Matilde di Shabran, in 1821. ==Performance history==