She orders Cinders into the woods to pick berries or something.Ģ1: My son I love you very dearly This duet (which I sort of wish was a patter trio with the Chancellor), is just brilliant ***. Cinderella breaks into a patch of Ponchielli but the Queen comes back with a vengeance. One can not help but feel that the composer is being a little autobiographical (although the influence seems to be Johann Strauss).ġ4: Darling little Cinderella The step-sisters arrive (both are apparently opera singers) and they harass Cinders in a duet out of Offenbach *.ġ5: You haven’t finished the task! This is quickly silenced by the arrival of the formidable Step-Mother *** which sounds like the Queen of the Night made it into the late-19th century. The only thing I can say about it that might be a criticism is that it mimics rather a few late-19th century composers, but what do you expect from a twelve year old! The piece does manage to sustain interest for a rather long time (eight-minute overtures are hardly a common occurrence these days).Ĩ: Note after Note Cinderella has her first bit ** rather quickly as she copies out orchestral parts (specifically a double-bass which Deutscher fittingly uses as a solo accompany to the vocal line. Overall it has the feel of a composition from the 1880s or 90s. The composer demonstrates a mastery of the violins, but it is especially in the way the other sections (brass, woodwinds) are selected that is truly eclectic. An old woman named Emeline (contralto) is the agent who helps Cinders and the Prince unite.Ġ: The eight minute long overture ** appears to be a synthesis of Wagner (the opening is close to the high harmonies of the prelude to Lohengrin, a theme that will return later in the opera) before turning to a more Verdian (a waltz tune resembling the prelude to La Traviata) and even French influence (Gounod perhaps?) as well as Wallace possibly(?). This one has a backstory! Apparently Cinderella is Hungarian or Romanian and the daughter of a now deceased opera house owner who married an aging coloratura soprano prima donna with two daughters (one a soprano, the other a contralto). The score was also originally written in English, as it is generally performed. I might be knit-picking because this has spoken dialogue, but for a fourteen year old this is a rather amazing vehicle! The score seems to be invoking every genre since Mozart with everything including piano accompanied recitatives, spoken dialogue, piano accompanied parlando, orchestral intermezzos, full on furious arias and ensembles in the styles of Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, Donizetti, Johann Strauss, even Ponchielli I think! The plot is to some extent a reversed Meistersinger in which the ball is a masque involving a song contest, the winner of which will hypothetically win the hand of the Prince, although this part of the plot seems to be more of a joke to provide filler. She is also only the third female composer I have reviewed, and by far the youngest. By the age of twelve she had composed this opera, and now, age fourteen, she has been inducted as a reviewed composer on Phil’s Opera World (probably the most minor of her achievements so far). This is really weird: not only is this composer alive, she is also nearly fifteen years younger than me! Alma Deutscher is a British-Israeli child prodigy who debuted at the age of six as a violinist. Running Time: 2 hours 26 minutes.Ī couple of years ago I was watching 60 Minutes, and they had an article on this girl who wrote an opera….
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