CinderellaCinderella

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2006-07season

1420 Locust StreetSuite 210Philadelphia, PA 19102

T (215) 893-3600F (215) 893-7801

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2006October 27, 29m,November 1, 3, 5m & 11

2006November 8, 10, 12m,15, 17 & 19m

2007February 9, 11m, 14, 16,18m & 24

2007May 2, 4, 6m, 9, 11 & 13m

and The School District of Philadelphia

Gioacchino Rossini’s

NEW Production

OperaA Family Guide to

Best Practices in Arts Education is sponsored by Pennsylvania Alliance for Arts Education,Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Pennsylvania’s standards in education call for students to show what they know and are able to do.As every parent knows, children need to share what they have discovered or learned. Thus, the title of our program is Sounds of Learning™. It reflects our belief that children must be actively engaged in sharing ideas,which reflects the collaborative learning that has been called for by the U.S. Department of Labor. For thefuture success of our research and development teams, today’s students must learn to work collaborativelyusing creative problem-solving techniques. This was further highlighted by Professor Richard Florida ofCarnegie Mellon University. He noted that 30% of the U.S. work force is directly involved with some level ofcreative engagements in their work. His June 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class, was published by BasicBooks. His work supported the U.S. Governors report that was released in spring of 2002. This report calledfor arts education in all schools since it has been directly tied to the economic development of urban areas.

With the Sounds of Learning™ program we strive to support the creative needs of our youth while wealso support the core literacy goals of our community. This book will integrate with the local core curriculumin literacy in many ways. Since opera is a uniquely integrated art, possessing orchestra, voice, literature, drama,and dance, the Sounds of Learning™ program is an interdisciplinary and student-centered program. The goal ofActive Learning is to have your children engaged in the process of self-teaching. They will be able to showhow they have gained insights into their learning by drawing, writing, charting, and discussing the issues mostrelevant to them. In this way, they will be able to show what they can do with what they know.

We believe the family is the most important foundation to learning. Let your kitchen table become aclassroom where your children can build their knowledge of opera and the humanities. As you join in theteaching and learning process with your children, watch their eyes sparkle. Opera is a communal celebration,so too should be your children’s education.

In reading the libretto, we suggest that your family members take turns reading particular roles. This adds a dimension of fun to the reading of this great literature. Recent research by Dr. Ellen Winner of Harvard’s Project Zero found that “drama helps to build verbal skills that transfer to new materials.” She found that acting out texts helps students in “reading readiness and achievement” and “oral and writtenlanguage development.” (Journal of Aesthetic Education, v34, #3/4, Fall/Winter, 2000.) In preparing for theopera, we suggest you purchase one of EMI’s excellent recordings of this opera. We are grateful to EMI for offering us their libretti for use in our program. Together, we hope to build future audiences for, and performers of, the arts.

The School District of PhiladelphiaSchool Reform Commission

James E. Nevels, Chairman

Martin G. Bednarek, member

Sandra Dungee Glenn, member

James P. Gallagher, Ph.D, member

Daniel J. Whelan, member

Paul VallasChief Executive Officer

Gregory ThorntonChief Academic Officer

Dennis W. Creedon, Ed.D.Administrator, Office of Creative

and Performing Arts

Opera Company of Philadelphia

Robert B. DriverGeneral and Artistic Director

Corrado RovarisMusic Director

David B. DevanManaging Director

Michael BoltonCommunity Programs Manager

Sounds of Learning™ was established by a generous grant from The Annenberg Foundation.Dedicated funding for the Sounds of Learning™ program has been provided by:

$50,000 and above

U.S. Department of Education

$20,000 to $49,999

Connelly Foundation

Glenmede

Lincoln Financial Group Foundation

$10,000 to $19,999

ARAMARK Charitable Fund

Ethel Sergeant Clark Smith Memorial Fund

GlaxoSmithKline

Hamilton Family Foundation

Hirsig Family Fund

PNC Bank

Presser Foundation

Universal Health Services

$5,000 to $9,999

Alpin J. & Alpin W. Cameron Memorial Trust

Bank of America Foundation

Barra Foundation

McLean Contributionship

Morgan Stanley Foundation

Samuel S. Fels Fund

Sheila Fortune Foundation

Wachovia Wealth Management

Warwick Foundation

$1,000 to $4,999

Louis N. Cassett Foundation

The Quaker Chemical Foundation

Cinderella production photos courtesy of Teatro Piccini.

The Opera Company ofPhiladelphia is supported by major

grants from The William PennFoundation, The Pew Charitable

Trusts, and The Lenfest Foundation.

Additional support is provided by the Independence Foundation

and the Horace W. GoldsmithFoundation.

The Opera Company ofPhiladelphia receives state arts

funding support through a grantfrom the Pennsylvania Council

on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth

of Pennsylvania.

Mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose as Cinderella at The 2005 Glyndebourne Festival in England

Photo courtesy of Mike Hoban, Glyndebourne Festival

ContentsofTableOpera 101: Getting Ready for the Opera

4 A Brief History of Western Opera 6 The Man Behind the Music: Gioacchino Antonio Rossini8 Rossini Timeline9 Make Your Own Timeline

Relating Opera to History: The Culture Connection10 Game: Musical Crossword Puzzle12 During Rossini’s Lifetime: Literature14 The Pop Art Aesthetic 16 In the 1950’s: The Role of American Women17 Science in 1950’s America: Exploration and Discovery

Cinderella: Libretto and Production Information19 Game: Connect the Opera Terms 20 Philadelphia’s Academy of Music22 Broad Street: Avenue of the Arts23 Acting the LIBRETTO24 Cinderella: Inside the Music26 Cinderella: Synopsis28 Meet the Artists29 Introducing Lawrence Brownlee30 Cinderella LIBRETTO62 Game: Cinderella Crossword Puzzle

Lessons64 Sequence of the Story65 Make Your Own Synopsis66 Recognizing Facts and Opinions67 Supporting Your Opinions68 Compose Your Own Review of Cinderella69 Character Analysis and Dramatic Motivation70 Cinderella in Your Own Words71 Cinderella – A Long History of Storytelling72 Going to the Ball73 Children’s Illustrator Arthur Rackham

Careers74 Careers in the Arts75 Active Learning in the Creative Arts

Glossary 76

Academic Standards 79

State Standards Met 80

These subtle but powerful manipulations inthe musical form of opera bring us into the height ofopera’s popularity. In the 18th and 19th centuries,operas were composed to reflect the contemporarydrama of the day. Many of Shakespeare’s plays weretransformed into operas. Opera later played a role inthe development of the nation states of Europe. Today,we have operas written in and produced in the languages of many diverse countries including: Italy,Germany, France, Russia, England, the CzechRepublic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Spain, theUnited States, Argentina and Denmark.

Rossini’s

Cinderella (La cenerentola)The universal nature of the Cinderella myth makes it

the best-known of all fairy tales; there are more than 900 versions of the story – 341 variations in Italy alone. The story iseasily set to music, and thus anticipates an operatic treatment.The earliest opera setting was by the Maltese composer NicoloIsouard (1775-1818) in 1810. The opera by Gioacchino Rossiniis one of two highly-regarded favorites of present day audiences; its French companion, Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon,premiered in Paris on May 24, 1899.

Rossini’s operatic treatment of the Charles Perraultstory is regarded as a musical gem; many musicologists consider it a better Rossini opera than his The Barber of Seville,which had premiered eleven months earlier (February, 1816).Rossini and his librettist Jacopo Ferretti made some radicalchanges to the Perrault story. All elements of magic and the supernatural were removed, due to Rossini’s dislike for elements of the fantastic and also because of the clumsyexecution of special effects by the stage machinery then available in Italian theaters. The characters were altered a bit,resulting in a mean but funny stepfather, two wicked but hilarious half-sisters, a guardian-angel styled tutor, and a royalvalet in addition to Cinderella and the Prince.

Another vital change to the story was the substitution ofa bracelet for the glass slipper as the token by which the princeidentifies his bride-to-be. Roman decency forbade womenfrom exposing their bare ankles in public, thus eliminatingthem from the plot. That glass slippers were ever part of thePerrault story is up for debate, too. Some scholars feel that theglass slipper tradition resulted from a mistranslation of theFrench homonyms for fur slippers (vair) and glass (verre).

Rossini composed the opera in just 24 days. Its premiere(January 25, 1817 at Rome’s Teatro Valle) was a fiasco, due primarily to an inadequate performance – although theevening’s singers were familiar with their characterizations.Reports from the premiere say that there was nearly noapplause during the opera and that the only singer to win plaudits from the public was Geltrude Righetti Giorgi who sang Cinderella. It subsequently became enormously popularin other Italian cities and spread to other countries. Its U.S. premiere took place on June 27, 1826, at New York’s ParkTheater. Philadelphia first heard the opera the following year,in 1827. Cinderella also has the distinction of being the firstopera ever performed in Australia (1844).

After its initial successes, however, the opera disappeared from the repertory, a fate due primarily to itsmusical difficulties, and the changing musical tastes at thetime. Vocal writing became less florid and orchestras became larger – making it difficult for singers to project their voicesover densely orchestrated music. The title role requires thevoice type known as a coloratura contralto – a low female voice with phenomenal agility. Cinderella is described by one writer as requiring “a woman with a nest of nightingales in her throat.” Few singers, even today, possess the necessary ability to cope with the opera’s required vocal agility. Rossiniwrote the parts for the singers he had available, and tailored his music to their specific voices. Periodic revivals occur when the required voice-types are prominently available.

54

The ancient Greeks were one of the first cultures to use a combination of spoken poetry and musicalaccompaniment. Their language, Attic, was a sing-song language in which half of the words were sungand half of the words were spoken. It has beenlikened to the chanting of some church services.

The conventions set forth in Greek dramadefined most types of dramatic performance until thelate 17th century, when the first operas began toemerge. Prior to that period, many developments invocal and instrumental music were taking place.Gregorian chant, a style involving single linemelodies and heavily relying on the fifth notes of scales,dominated the early Christian church. This monodicmusic (one line) later developed into polyphonicmusic, which meant that voices were added that sangat intervals below the melody (producing harmony).

As music increased in complexity, so did its popular usage. Counterpoint, the practice of weavingtogether melodies horizontally, was considered too secular to the ears of the church. Counterpoint, theysaid, obscured the meanings of the liturgical text, whosesetting was the primary reason for singing in church.

This new secular style of music continued toevolve among the laity in the figure of the troubadour,or minstrel. Their folk songs were both entertainingand informational, relaying anything from seriousheroic adventures, to sentimental love stories, tocomic tales. They had a one line melody and wereaccompanied by guitars, lutes, or pipes. Alfonso theWise, ruler of Castile, Spain was a famous 13th century troubadour. He further expanded this type of music to include harmonies in the instrumentsthat supported the singer. By dedicating his music toSaint Mary, he also helped to ease some of the stressbetween the church and the purveyors of music.

By the early part of the 17th century, a newmusical form began to emerge that began to prefiguremodern opera. The motet was a style of vocal musicin which sacred texts were sung by multiple voicesusing counterpoint techniques. The secular style that evolved from this was the madrigal, often sungin taverns, village squares and private homes. The popular embrace of complex vocal music formultiple voices was now thriving.

Into this picture entered agroup of men, who identified them-selves as the Florentine Camerata.Their group was a kind of club,dedicated to the study and advancement of bothmusic and classical Greek theater. These composersdeveloped recitative, or “sung speech” in an attempt toimitate the Attic language. The solo song became theopera aria. Throughout their work, Greek tragediesand mythology formed the basis of their subject matter.Because they dealt with fantastical characters,singing seemed to fit naturally into the language.

The earliest operas out of Florence and Napleswere very simple, and featured lots of short ariasstrung together with recitative patches. The firstopera, Dafne, by Jacopo Peri (1561-1633) is based ona Greek myth. It was performed in 1598 for Carnivalin a private home. It became famous throughoutEurope. Claudio Monteverdi, who is considered thelast great composer of madrigals and the first greatcomposer of operas, composed his opera Orfeo in 1607.

Monteverdi was in many ways ahead of his time.In other parts of Italy, composers were struggling toexpand and develop opera. Pietro Allesandro Scarlatti,a composer from Naples, helped to shape this young artform and expand the vocal sections. Niccolo Jommelliwas another contemporary who began to develop theorchestra in operas. He was credited with making theinstruments “speak without words.” While Italiancomposers were credited with the birth of opera as aform, its next steps in conception were taken inAustria and eastern Europe.

The prolific and gifted composer WolfgangAmadeus Mozart composed his first opera, Apollo etHyacintus, when he was only 12 years old. He wenton to dramatically change the way opera would beviewed up until the present time. Mozart’s innovationsincluded manipulating the key and tone of the musicto reflect the feelings of the characters. To create conflict within the music in an opera such as Don Giovanni, Mozart would have one character’sarias set in the key of D-minor and his nemesis’ in D-major. The subtle difference in tone creates anaudible clash, and thus increases the dramatic tension. Conversely, when a conflict was on its wayto resolution, Mozart wrote the music to slowly workdown the harmonic scale, until it reached the key inwhich the opera had begun.

Claudio Monteverdi1567-1643

The origins of opera as we now know it come out of thelong history of instrumental and vocal music, as well asdrama.

A Brief History of

Western Opera

Gioacchino Rossini1792-1868

76

Gioacchino AntonioRossini was born onFebruary 29th in theleap year of 1792 inPesaro, a small townon the Adriatic coast in Central Italy. His father,Giuseppe, was a horn and trumpet player and hismother, Anna, was a singer with a beautiful voice.Gioacchino grew up in a household filled withmusic. At six years old, he was accepted in Pesaro’smunicipal band as a listaro, or player of the metal triangle that is called the lista. He was thought of asthe band’s mascot. His parents traveled from town totown performing in theaters, and while they wereaway, Rossini stayed with his maternal grandmother.At school he was a troubled student and he often gotinto fights. Listening to his mother sing was one ofhis greatest joys during his childhood. He appearedin a public concert with his mother in 1804; thatsame year Rossini composed his 6 sonate e quattro in which his graceful, lively manner and idiosyncraticphrasing were already evident. In 1810, he receivedhis first commission to write an opera. He wrote Lacambiale di matrimonio (The Bill of Exchange ofMarriage), a one-act comic opera that displayed hisamazing vitality and imaginativeness. This operahad a run of thirteen performances.

However, this was the era of Napoleon andwar was raging in most of Europe. As Rossini cameof age, he risked being dragged off to fight in one ofthe many campaigns of the war. So in 1812, herequested permission from the son of the thendeposed Empress Josephine to stay out of theNapoleonic wars. He was fortunate to have had asuccess with his first opera because he was granteda reprieve so that he could devote himself to hismusic. Rossini had another great success with La pietra del paragone (The Touchstone). It was firstperformed in 1812 and was filled with energetic andinventive music. It was a lively satire that had a runof 53 performances in a single season at the famousMilanese theater, La Scala. As a result, Rossinireceived three times the amount he had received forhis first opera. Rossini began to write music at afeverish pace. He composed six operas in the next 15months, including the 1813 opera buffa masterpieceL’italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers), andthe melodrama Tancredi (1813). This last operabrought him European fame. By the end of 1814,Rossini had written fourteen operas.

In 1815 Rossini movedto Naples, where helived for the nextseven years. Napleswas a bustling city

with several beautiful theaters and many enthusiastictheater-goers. There Rossini met the great Italianopera producer Domenico Barbaja. He also met thestriking singer Isabella Colbran. She was a leadingsoprano who favored grand, tragic roles. In the nextseven years Barbaja produced as many as ten ofRossini’s operas which were all composed forColbran’s virtuosic voice. In 1816, Rossini took a side trip to Rome and wrote his greatest masterpiece,Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). Back inNaples, Rossini wrote two more great operas, Lagazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie, 1817) and thelavish, Bible-inspired work, Mosè in Egitto (Moses inEgypt, 1818).

In March 1822, Rossini married IsabellaColbran. Shortly thereafter, they traveled to Viennafor a Rossini festival that ran from April to July.While there, Rossini heard Beethoven’s Symphony #3(Eroica Symphony) and had a visit with the greatcomposer which deeply moved him. Beethoven’scomment to Rossini was that attempting anythingbut comedy would be pressing his luck. In Venice inearly 1823, Rossini premiered one of his last Italianoperas, Semiramide. This opera was of the seria(serious) type. It was a great success and affirmedhis claim to be one of the world’s leading composers.

In August 1824, the Rossinis traveled to Paristo immerse themselves in the French musical world.Paris was the major opera center for most of the 19thcentury, attracting great composers and singers from throughout Europe. Rossini was caught up inRomanticism, the century’s primary artistic ideal. A response to the rationalism of the 18th century,Romanticism was about love, as well as a celebrationof nature and of the simpler life. In Paris, between1824-29, he composed five operas, one in Italian andfour in French. In his final opera, Guillaume Tell(William Tell, 1829), Rossini reached his musicalpeak and earned a national reputation which during the rest of the century was equaled only by Wagner and Verdi in their best moments. Of Tell, thecomposer Donizetti said that if the first and third actswere composed by a genius, the second was writtenby God Almighty.

A few days after Tell’s premiere, Rossini leftParis and returned to Italy. He was looking forwardto a long restful stay in Bologna. Two months earlier,King Charles X of France had granted him a pensionwhen it was learned that he intended to retire fromwriting opera. Rossini hoped to leave music before itleft him. However, a year later (1830) Rossini had torush back to Paris because King Charles X wasdeposed in the July Revolution in Paris. The newking, Louis-Philippe, deprived Rossini of all his privileges as well as his pension. Rossini’s visit toParis turned out to be much longer than he anticipated. It took him five years to secure his pension, but in the end he was able to receive all thatwas owed him. Unfortunately, Rossini and his wifeseparated after he had to return to Paris.

While back in Paris, Rossini had dinner withhis friend the French author Honoré de Balzac andmet Olympe Pélissier. This exceptional womanbecame his faithful companion, and after the deathof Isabella in 1845 she became his wife in 1846.

Rossini’s main accomplishment in Paris in the early 30's was the publication of Les soiréesmusicales (1835), a group of eight chamber arias andfour duets. By the late 1830’s, however, he was seriously ill. He and Olympe moved to Bologna in 1837.His next major musical success was his Stabat mater(1842). Despite its immediate worldwide success, hecomposed less and less. In 1848, after a distressingencounter with an antagonistic mob, he moved fromBologna to Florence, spending much of the nextseven years in bed being cared for by his loyal wife.

Finally, in 1855, Olympe moved Rossini backto Paris. There, his condition slowly improved, andin 1857 he began to compose the small piano andvocal pieces that he called Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age), which numbered more than 150.In December 1858, he and Olympe held the firstsamedi soir (a musical party); everyone in Pariswanted an invitation to one of his Saturday eveningmusical events. In the last years of his life, Rossinienjoyed these gatherings as a way of seeing hisfriends and as a way of having his small vocal piecesperformed. Rossini’s last substantial piece was thesacred choral work Petite Messe Solennelle (1864).The last samedi soir was held September 1868.Rossini died a few months later, on Friday, the 13thof November.

Today, Rossini is considered by many to be the first great Italian composer of the 19th century. For much of the first half of the century, Rossini wasthe most influential composer in the world. But by

the time he died in 1868, many of his operas were nolonger played. By the turn of the century, he wasknown to most people as the composer of a singleopera (The Barber of Seville), several overtures, andone religious work (Stabat mater). It has only beensince the 1950’s that Rossini has been given the credit he is due. This is a result of committed scholarship and the availability of singers who havemastered the difficult technique that proper Rossinisinging requires. Many of his works have been re-evaluated, produced on stage, and recorded. Each August, Rossini’s hometown of Pesaro holds afestival in which at least one of his rare works isstaged. Today he once again is considered a majorinfluence in the development of both Italian andFrench opera.

Active Learning1. Go to the library and take out a CD or a video on one of Rossini’s operas.

2. Listen to the overture to Rossini’s opera Guillame Tell (William Tell). Have you heard this music before? What does the main theme sound like to you?

3. Research other composers living in the time of Rossini.How is their music similar or different from his?

4. Rossini was popular during the Age of Enlightenment.How do the themes of Cinderella reflect those times?

5. Visit the Pesaro Rossini Festival website at http://www.rossinioperafestival.it/?newlang=eng.What operas were performed there this year?

6. Can you find Pesaro on a map? How far away is it from Rome, Milan, and Venice? What are its latitude and longitude lines? What other cities are on or near those lines?

The Man Behind the Music:Gioacchino Antonio

Rossini

Isabella Colbran1785-1845

Rossini

Rossini TimelineMake Your Own

Timeline 98

American Presidents1789-1797 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .George Washington1797-1801 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Adams1801-1809 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thomas Jefferson1809-1817 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James Madison1817-1825 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James Monroe1829-1837 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Jackson1837-1841 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Martin Van Buren

1841 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .William Harrison*1841-1845 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Tyler1845-1849 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James K. Polk1849-1850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Zachary Taylor*1850-1853 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Millard Fillmore1853-1857 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Franklin Pierce1857-1861 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James Buchanan1861-1865 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Abraham Lincoln†

1865-1869 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Johnson

*Died in office†Assassinated in office

European Leaders1825-1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nicholas I (Russ.)1830-1848 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Louis Philippe (Fr.)1837-1901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Queen Victoria (UK)1848-1916 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Franz Josef (Aus.-Hun.)

Other Classical Composers1732-1809 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Franz Joseph Haydn (Aus.)1770-1827 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ludwig van Beethoven (Ger.)1813-1883 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Wagner (Ger.)1813-1901 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Giuseppe Verdi (It.)1833-1897 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Johannes Brahms (Ger.)1840-1893 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russ.)

InventionsSteam Locomotive

1804 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Trevithick (U.S.)

Bicycle1816 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Karl von Sauerbronn (Ger.)

Camera 1822 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joseph Niepce (Fr.)

Telegraph1837 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Samuel F. B. Morse (U.S.)

Refrigerator1858 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ferdinand Carre (Fr.)

Typewriter1867 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Christopher Sholes (U.S.)

Telephone1876 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alexander Graham Bell (U.S.)

Other Major Events1803 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Louisiana Purchase

1804 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Napoleon proclaimed Emperorof France

1805 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Explorers Lewis and Clark reach Pacific Ocean

1807 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .British abolish slave trade

1812 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .United States and British at war

1815 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Napoleon defeated at Battle ofWaterloo

1818 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Liberia, W. Africa, founded for freed slaves

1833 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .British abolish slavery

1849 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .California’s Gold Rush begins

1861-1865 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .American Civil War

1863 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Abolition of slavery by Lincoln

Active LearningCut apart three supermarket paper bags. Cut them open down one of the side seams and cut off the bottom so that when laid flat, you have a rectangular piece of paper. Tape the bags together at the shorter ends, creating a long rectangular piece of paper. From the longer side of the bag near the top, measure in 10” and place a dot. Do the same near the bottom. Draw a straight line from the top to the bottom of the bag throughboth dots. From the information on this page, select the most important incidents for your timeline. With these facts, include some of the important dates in history listedabove. You may also illustrate your timeline.

Below you will find a number of important dates about people and events that happened duringRossini’s time. You can compare the events below with the events in Rossini’s life to get a more complete picture of what it was like to live at that time.

From the information on the previous page, select the most important incidents in Rossini’s life and combine them with some of the important developments in world history. Discuss your selections withyour classmates. Discover why some students chose different facts or dates to record.

1792 Born on February 29 in Pesaro, Italy, the only child of Giuseppe, a horn and trumpet player, and Anna, a singer.

1803 Takes singing lessons from Canon Giuseppe Malerbi.

1804 Appears in public concert with his mother; he composes six sonate a quattro.

1805 The family moves to Bologna to be nearer the center of musical life.

1806 Studies singing, cello, piano and counterpoint at the local Liceo Musicale. He begins working in local opera houses.

1810 His first professional operatic commission is a one-act comic opera, La cambiale di matrimonio.

1812 Writes five new operas, including his first great success, La pietra del paragone.

1815 Arrives in Naples. Elisabetta, his first Neapolitan opera, is a success.

1816 Il barbiere di Siviglia premieres in Rome, and La gazzetta and Otello in Naples.

1817 Writes four new operas: La cenerentola, La gazza ladra, Armida and Adelaide di Borgona.

1818 Writes three new operas: Mosè in Egitto, Adina and Ricciardo e Zoraide.

1822 Marries famous Spanish soprano, Isabella Colbran. Vienna’s Rossini Festival, April 13 - July 8. Meets Beethoven.

1823 Premieres his last Italian opera, Semiramide (from a tragedy by Voltaire) in Venice. Travels to Paris, then to London.

1824 Season of Rossini operas at King’s Theatre in London. Rossini parties with the aristocracy. Then back to Paris in August.

1827 His mother, Anna Guidarini Rossini dies.

1829 His last opera, Guillaume Tell premieres in Paris and is attended by a magnificent audience. He returns to Bologna.

1831 In Madrid, Spain, he is commissioned to compose a Stabat mater.

1832 Forms a relationship with Olympe Pélissier, a beautiful and intelligent woman who nurses him during his manyillnesses throughout the rest of his life.

1833 A Rossini-Tadolini Stabat mater premieres in Madrid.

1835 His Les soirées musicales, a group of eight chamber arias and four duets, are published.

1837 Separates legally from Isabella Colbran.

1839 His father, age 80, dies.

1842 All-Rossini Stabat mater premieres in Paris and is a huge artistic and commercial success; it is conducted byDonizetti later that year in Bologna.

1845 Visits his ailing former wife, Isabella Colbran. She dies a month later at age 60.

1846 Marries Olympe Pélissier.

1855 Takes up permanent residence in Paris.

1857 Returns to composing with a gift to Olympe – Musique anodine. It is the beginning of a new phase in Rossini’s creative and social life.

1858 First samedi soir – December 18, where artists, politicians, diplomats, and the well-to-do come to meet and heara galaxy of musical talent.

1868 Last samedi soir – September 26. Dies on Friday, November 13 in Paris, age 76. Over 4,000 people attend his funeral.

1887 Re-buried at Santa Croce Church in Florence, Italy, where he lies next to Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo and other great men.

1110

Musical

Crossword PuzzleACROSS

1 The highest woman’s or boy’s singing voice.

6 A note that sounds twice as high in pitch as anotherand has the same letter naming it.

9 A half tone, an interval midway between two whole tones.

10 Name of the scales which begin with the foundation tone (do) followed by a whole tone for the second note, followed by a whole tone for the 3rd (Music written in these scales often have a strong, cheerful sound).

12 Loudly.

13 Name of the scales with the third tone a half-step above the second tone (music based on these scales seem sad and melancholic).

14 A musical composition for one or more solo instruments and an orchestra.

18 Fast and lively.

21 Moderately slow time.

22 A note that is neither sharp nor flat.

23 The basic pulse of a piece of music.

25 Very softly.

26 The basic note of the main scale used in a piece of music.

27 A musical composition for one instrument or two, usually with three or four movements.

DOWN

1 A series of notes arranged in descending or ascending order of pitch.

2 Very fast.

3 The highest man’s singing voice.

4 One of the separate sections into which a long piece of music is divided.

5 A long elaborate musical composition for a full orchestra, usually in several parts.

7 Softly.

8 Very loud.

9 A half-step higher than the corresponding note or key of natural pitch.

11 In slow time and dignified style.

12 A half-step lower than the corresponding note or key of natural pitch.

15 A group of notes played at the same time in harmony.

16 A direction term meaning getting slower.

17 A musical composition numbered as one of a composer's works, usually in order of publication.

18 The lowest female singing voice.

19 The line that divides one measure from another.

20 The range of the male voice between a tenor and bass.

23 The lowest male singing voice.

24 An interval equal to two semitones.

Allegro

Alto

Andante

Bar

Baritone

Bass

Beat

Chord

Concerto

Flat

Forte

Fortissimo

Key

Largo

Major

Minor

Movement

Natural

Octave

Opus

Pianissimo

Piano

Presto

Rallentando

Scale

Semitone

Sharp

Soprano

Sonata

Symphony

Tenor

Tone

You may use your glossary.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49)Stories include:“The Tell-Tale Heart” (1845);“The Murders in The Rue Morgue” (1841)‘The Bells’, ‘The Raven’ (1845-49)

Mary Shelley (1797-1851)Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818)

Henry David Thoreau (1817-62)Walden, or Life in The Woods (1854)

Mark Twain (1835-1910)Tom Sawyer (1867)

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)A Vindication on the Rights of Women (1792)

Active Learning1. Choose a book from the list above and use the following suggestions to compare and contrast it to the libretto ofRossini’s Cinderella.

Language: Is the dialogue formal or casual? What does that tell you about the characters? How do the authorsdescribe settings and surroundings? Does he/she use any of the following conventions: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or onomatopoeia?

Theme: How are the main themes in the works similar/different?

Subject: Do the authors deal with similar settings in place or time?

Style: Are the works primarily humorous? Are they satirical?Are the works intended as serious histories?

Character Comparisons: Choose characters who may besimilar and compare them. (i.e. Cinderella/ Cordelia/ JaneEyre/Harriet Smith; Don Magnifico/King Lear/Mrs. Reed/Mr. Woodhouse; Clorinda and Thisbe/Goneril andRegan/Georgiana, Eliza, and John Reed; Dandini/Emma/The Fool).

2. Go to the library and take out one of these great books and do a report on it!

3. Be sure to visit Edgar Allan Poe’s House on Spring Garden and 7th Streets. It is open every day exceptmajor holidays, and there is no admission charge.

1312

During Rossini’s Lifetime:

LiteratureThe themes of Cinderella are universal: a family

torn apart by jealousy or ridicule, societal class structure issues, a favorite child, a person looking to improve their situation in life, redemption through forgiveness and love. There are hundreds of stories that, while not duplicating Cinderella’s plot,explore the themes present in basic elements of thiscenturies-old tale. While not all of these works werewritten during Rossini’s time, the basic Cinderellastory can be used for comparison study.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Lear (1605)

Considered the greatest writer in the Englishlanguage who ever lived, Shakespeare’s plays explorethe human condition in both brilliant comedies and searing dramas.

In the tragedy King Lear, Shakespeare examines the relationships between the old king and his three daughters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia.Goneril and Regan treacherously wrestle his kingdomfrom him, while the third banished daughter,Cordelia, is loyal and virtuous to a fault. Lear fallsinto madness and only in that madness is he able toclearly see the merits of his daughters.

Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855): Jane Eyre (1847)

Brontë was a British poet and novelist whoinitially wrote under the pseudonym Current Bell.Jane Eyre is the most famous of her four novels and has been made into several films for televisionand theatrical release as well as a recent opera byMichael Berkeley. Her sister, Emily Jane Brontë,wrote the famous novel Wuthering Heights.

Growing up, poor orphaned Jane Eyre is treatedmost poorly by her stepmother and step-siblings.Jane’s physical appearance is rather homely, but hercharacter is irrefutable. She works as the governessto the enigmatic Edward Rochester and as the twofall in love, Rochester’s mentally unstable first wife,who is kept in hiding, threatens to endanger theirfuture happiness, but all works out in the end.

The time period during which Rossini livedand worked was alive with literary genius. While hewas composing his operas, others were busy tellingstories with ink and paper. The amount of great literature that was written in that period is amazing.They were years filled with intellectual energy, energy preserved in the writing of many great menand women. The short list below is a select list of authors who lived in that period and a samplingof their works

Jane Austen (1775-1817) Sense and Sensibility (1811)Pride and Prejudice (1813)Emma (1815-16)

Charlotte Brontë (1816-55)Jane Eyre (1847)

Emily Brontë (1818-48)Wuthering Heights (1847)

Lewis Carroll (1832-98)Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)

Charles Dickens (1812-70)Oliver Twist (1838)A Tale of Two Cities (1859)Great Expectations (1860-61)

Emily Dickinson (1830-86)Poems include:“The Chariot,” “The Snake,”“I Died for Beauty”

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)The Scarlet Letter (1850)The House of the Seven Gables (1851)

Victor Hugo (1802-1885)The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831)Les Misérables (1862)

Jane Austen (1775-1817):Emma (1815-16).

While only moderately commercially successful during her lifetime, Austen became one of the mostinfluential novelists of the era due to her mastery ofform, irony as well as her uncanny insights into thelives of Victorian-era women.

Emma is a work whose story is probablyfamiliar with today’s younger audiences, given thenumber of films that have portrayed the story orused its outline to shape their own (Clueless is oneexample). The story centers around the lives ofyoung female members of the upper or middle classand their struggles for love and acceptance within a highly formalized British society.

Charles Dickens1812-1870

Mark Twain1835-1910

Edgar Allan Poe1809-1849

William Shakespeare1564-1616

Jane Austen1775-1817

Charlotte Brontë1816-1855

Cordelia aids her ailing father, King Lear.

Cinderella director Davide Livermore and setand costume designer Santi Centineo have set theirproduction of the opera in the 1950’s. Everything waschanging as a new age was dawning: television andmass media had a foothold on America, women hadestablished themselves in the work force as “Rosie theRiveter” during the just-finished World War II (1939-

1945), rock and roll was created; art was reflectingthose changes They want to examine the evolving roleof women in the 1950’s by comparing the archetype of Cinderella to the new domestic responsibilities of women in that era. In doing so, they’ve chosen the colorful, whimsical Pop Art style for the sets ofthis production.

The term Pop Art was coined by a British artcritic, Lawrence Alloway in the late 1950’s, as a wayto refer to a new movement in American art that wasinspired by popular culture. In the 1950’s, Americawas entering a new era as all types of consumergoods were widely available and movies and television changed how people saw the world. A group of artists responded to this change in theform of paintings, sculpture, film, music and magazines that still capture people’s attention today.

The movement known as Pop Art began in theearly 1950s and was first introduced at a schoolcalled Black Mountain College in North Carolina. It was at this school that the previously held ideathat art was for the rich and the elite was changedforever. Prior to the 1950s the most popular style ofart was known as Abstract Expressionism, a stylethat was very serious in subject and focused on theskill of the painter or sculptor. While popular withart critics and scholars, the style was not widelyaccepted by the public and many artists felt out oftouch with their audiences. Out of this rejection offormal, serious work, the artists at the center of popart created a new style that championed the everydayobjects and faces surrounding all Americans.

Pop art was instantly popular in New York City,where the movement came to be centered. The workshown in galleries there reflected an endorsement ofAmerican popular culture, both its positive and negativefeatures. Materialism, consumerism, violence, sexu-ality and celebrity were all part of pop art’s aim ofbreaking the barrier between the artist and the public. Some images were vulgar, some wereshocking, some were silly, but all of them were easily recognizable to their audience.

Another important feature of Pop Art was arejection of Abstract Expressionism’s heavy emphasison the skill and hand of the painter in each piece.Pop artists created many of their works in a commercial way, using screen-printing or othermethods of duplication. This gave Pop Art piecesan anonymous sense, and also helped to reflect the artist’s endorsement of all things commercial and mechanical.

One of the most famous artists of the Pop Artmovement was Andy Warhol. His studio (which he called “The Factory”) created some of the most recognizable pieces of art of the 20th century, likethe giant Campbell’s soup can, and the Technicolorpaintings of Marilyn Monroe. Warhol began hascareer as a commercial artist, designing advertisementsand even after he achieved fame as a professionalartist he continued to design many commercialadvertisements. His style was characterized by a focuson the simplest and grittiest of subjects (such as Cokebottles and Brillo pads) and bold, bright colors. Hewas also fascinated by celebrities, such as ElizabethTaylor, whom he often featured in his works.

Other important Pop artists included JasperJohns, Roy Lichtenstien, Robert Rauschenberg,and Claes Oldenburg. Jasper Johns, whose painting ofan American flag has become a treasured nationalsymbol, sold four paintings to the Museum ofModern Art in New York at his very first galleryshow. Lichtenstein’s most famous works look likegiant comic strips, and feature huge dots of primarycolors. Robert Rauschenberg is most well known forhis collages that feature everyday items and subjectsand are meant as a comment on the media’s impacton society. Claes Oldenburg’s primary art was sculpture, and many of his finest pieces can be seeneveryday for free here in Philadelphia. He choseeveryday objects and recreated them as enormousoutdoor sculptures, forcing people to look at thingsthey had previously taken for granted in a totallynew way.

Pop Art was created in order for art to beaccessible to anyone, and to equalize the differencebetween high culture and popular culture. Many ofthese artists changed the way people viewed theworld around them, and their place in a modernworld. By using images everyone was familiar with,anyone could participate in experience of art.

Active Learning: 1. Experience Pop Art up close and personal by visiting these sculptures by Claes Oldenburg:

Clothespin, 1976: 15th and Market Street, in the Centre Square Plaza.

Split Button, 1981: University of Pennsylvania Campus, in front of Van Pelt Library (near 34th and Walnut Street).

2. Learn more about Andy Warhol, and make some artinspired by his style. Go to the Andy Warhol Museum inPittsburgh’s website at: http://edu.warhol.org.

3. Create Pop Art in the style of Andy Warhol’s famousMarilyn Monroe portrait. Using the image of the Academy of Music in your teacher’s guide, color the image as wildly and vividly as you can! How do your color schemecompare with those of your classmates?

1514

The

The Pop ArtAesthetic

Claes Oldenburg,Clothespin, 1976

Roy Lichtenstein-inspired

Program cover art from the

Opera Company ofPhiladelphia’s

1999-2000 season.

World War II, one of the mostdramatic conflicts of the20th century, had broughtwomen into the workforceas a call to patriotism.Working to support the wareffort was seen as a way of

supporting their families and their country, andtherefore did not conflict with many traditionallyheld stereotypes about the roles of women. Between1941 and 1945, over six million women entered theworkforce for the first time, due in large part to government propaganda such as “Rosie the Riveter,”In addition to these industrial positions, manywomen entered the armed forces as well, taking onjobs as nurses, cooks and drivers. Throughout thewar, however, women were encouraged to maintainthe customary domestic life they had enjoyed beforethe war, creating a difficult double standard. On theone hand, they could work successfully outside thehome in their newly acceptable outfit of trousers,while at the same time they were expected to cookand clean at home with a full face of make-up.

After the war ended, many women wereuneasy in the domestic roles they were encouragedto embrace through film and the media. The films ofthe 1950’s depicted glamorous, put-together womensuch as Bette Davis and Marilyn Monroe. But imagesof women in the home were changing, and in 1951,I Love Lucy debuted. Lucy was an unconventionalfemale character and when Lucille Ball became pregnant in 1952 she was the first pregnant woman toappear on T.V. The words “pregnant” and “pregnancy,”however, were considered indecent and were neveruttered on the show. The 1950s were a time of dramaticsocial change for America, and the development andsuccess of suburbia were seen by many importantthinkers as keeping women out of that change. By the1960’s, one of the most influential feminist writers,Betty Friedan, coined the term “The FeminineMystique,” to address the idea that women’s onlyappropriate roles were as wives and mothers.

The 1950’s did create opportunities for womenas never before. During this time, jobs became moreplentiful and profitable, and many new consumergoods were available for purchase. Many new inventions made work around the house easier thanever before, including plastic wrap, non-stick

cookware, and the electric sewing machine. Existingappliances like the electric iron, vacuum cleaner and the washing machine were now much moreaffordable for the average family. The microwavewas invented in 1952, but with a price tag of $1,295(which would cost over $9,000 today) it was far tooexpensive for the average family.

While the domestic factor in women’s livesmay have gotten easier in some respect, the countrystill had a number of social problems during the1950s which women were involved in. One of themost important events in the history of the battle forCivil Rights was the Montgomery Bus Boycott, andthat event began with one very important woman.On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. This moment would forever change the history ofour country. Philadelphian Marian Anderson, one ofthe most talented opera singers of the century, tookthe stage at the Metropolitan Opera House in NewYork City on January 7, 1955 to sing the role of thefortuneteller Ulrica in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera(A Masked Ball). She was the first African-Americanopera singer to perform with the Met. These womenare two examples of how the women of the 1950’schanged our country forever.

Active Learning1. How have women’s roles changed even further since the 1950’s?

2. What professions are open to women now that were not available to them since then?

3. What was the Equal Rights Amendment and how did it affect the lives of women?

4. What are some of the challenges still facing women on their professional lives today?

5. Who was Philadelphian Marian Anderson? Why was she so important?

In the nearly 70 years since World War II,America’s contributions to the scientific world havebeen both beneficial and catastrophic. The atomicbomb, perhaps the most famous and terrible of allscientific projects undertaken in the U.S., paved the way for the country’s dedication to a betterunderstanding of the world around us.

The atomic bomb was the product of a government effort called The Manhattan Project.Many of the scientists involved with this group wenton to found two of the largest governmentally funded scientific research groups: The NationalScience Foundation (1950) and The Atomic EnergyCommission (1946). The creation of these groupsmarked a change in the United States government’sattitude towards science. Prior to the war, the majority of funding for scientific research was donethrough private individuals and foundations. During the war, the government understood thevalue of scientific research for the production of newtechnology, and ultimately weapons.

While the government’s initial purpose forfunding this research was less than admirable, theresult was very beneficial for the country. In a landmarkreport called, “Science: The Endless Frontier”(1945),Vannevar Bush (an important presidential advisor)explained that government funding for science wouldcreate new jobs, improve the post-war economy, andultimately better protect the country. While Bush’srecommendations were not implemented exactly ashe envisioned, the country did witness a substantialincrease in scientific research.

Many major scientific developments of the1950’s owe their creation to the military. After WorldWar II, 1 in 4 doctors in the United States had beeninvolved in the military. As they returned to theirlives after the war, they brought with them a numberof practices from the field. One of these was the ideaof medical specialization. In the early 20th centurymost doctors were General Practitioners, meaningthat they treated whole families in their towns for anything from the common cold, to child birth, to minor surgery. In the military, things are highlyorganized and specialized in order to increase efficiency. Doctors employed this idea in their hospitals, and today medicine has a number ofsmaller sub-groups of specialization.

The all-out war of World War II was replacedin the 50’s by the less violent but equally terrifyingCold War. In 1957 the Soviet Union launchedSputnik 1, an un-manned satellite, into successfulorbit around the Earth. This led to the U.S.’s creationof NASA, the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (1958). The founding principle ofNASA was to explore space, “for the benefit of allmankind.” NASA would go on to create some of the country’s most expensive and most memorablescientific moments.

Part of living in America during the Cold Warmeant adopting new, “American” ways of life thatwould set people apart from the perceived enemy ofCommunism. This led to widespread positive thinkingabout science, and how science could make people’slives better. This idea is commonly referred to todayin the slogan, “better living through chemistry.”

1716

The 1950’s: The Role of

American Women Science in 1950’s America:

Exploration and DiscoveryThis 1943 poster

shows that women were called to

work as part of the war effort.

Courtesy, Library of Congress:

LC-DIG-ppmsca-12895

The first artificial satellite, Sputnik, launched by the Russians on October 4, 1957.

Photo courtesy of NASA.

1. Opera Seria

2. Baritone

3. Opera

4. Ballet

5. Orchestra

6. Libretto

7. Duet

8. Aria

9. Soprano

10. Chorus

11. Act

12. Contralto

13. Tenor

14. Opera Buffa

15. Recitative

16. Bass

17. Overture

18. Verismo

A. Dance spectacle set to music.

B. Highest pitched woman’s voice.

C. Dramatic text adapted for opera.

D. Low female voice.

E. Comic opera.

F. A drama or comedy in which music is the essential factor; very little is spoken.

G. Opera with dramatic and intense plots.

H. Music composed for a singing group.

I. A composition written for two performers.

J. A group of musicians who play together on various musical instruments.

K. Highest pitched man’s voice.

L. A musical style used in opera and oratorio, inwhich the text is declaimed in the rhythm ofnatural speech with slight melodic variation.

M. Male voice between bass and tenor.

N. A piece of music originally designed to be played before an opera or musical play.

O. The term describing the realistic or naturalistic school of opera that flourished briefly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; libretti werechosen to depict a ‘slice of life’.

P. Deepest male voice.

Q. Elaborate solo in an opera or oratorio.

R. Main division of a play or opera.

1918

1951 The first embryo transplants for cattle are performed. UNIVAC 1 is the first computer to store information on magnetic tape.

1952 The first accident at a nuclear reactor occurs – a technician makes an error at the Chalk River reactor in Canada and the nuclear core explodes.

The CBS television network in America uses a UNIVAC computer to predict the results of the US presidential election. The computer predicts a landslide victory for Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican candidate. The computer operators do not believe this, so they quickly reprogram the computer to predict a close contest. The eventual result of the election is a landslide victory for Eisenhower.

1953 Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach the summit of Everest, the world's highest mountain.

In England Frederick Sanger determines the structure of a protein for the first time – the hormone insulin.

James Watson from America and Francis Crick of England develop the double helix model of DNA which explains the way in which this massive molecule can carry and transmit the hereditary information in living organisms.

1955 In England Christopher Cockerell develops the first practical hovercraft.

The first optical fibres are produced.

Albert Einstein dies on April 18 aged 76.

1957 The USSR launch Sputnik 2 on November 3. It carries the dog Laika into orbit.

1958 The first experimental nuclear reactor for generating electric begins operation in America.

A chess program that runs on an IBM computer is developed. It plays about as well as a fair amateur.

1959 The Antarctic treaty is signed, promising to keep the continent free from military use and to use it for scientific research.

Chemistry led to one of the more importantdevelopments of the 1950’s: The polio vaccine. Poliois a virus which attacks your body’s motor systems,and in the early 20th century a number of epidemicsleft tens of thousands of children crippled and disabled. Because polio has very few initial symptoms,it was not always easy to tell if a child was infected.This led to tremendous fear of epidemic, and during the crisis years of 1949-1954, many towns instituted quarantines to keep young children out.The development of the first vaccine in 1954 byJonas Salk, was an important step forward for modern medicine. While today a newer vaccine is inwidespread use, polio is still a problem for childrenin developing nations.

For more information about these topics, youcan visit these websites: http://history.nasa.gov;http://americanhistory.si.edu/polio.

Did you know...Many things like the computer and the

superconductor owe their origins to governmentallyfunded research into military developments.

Many doctors after the war were involved in the military (one in four), which affected the way they practiced medicine. In the field, tasks were specialized and organized in a very hierarchial way. This led to the decrease in family-oriented generalpractitioners and an increase in academic specialists.

Developments in science in the 1950’s led toamazing discoveries that would help people livefuller lives, while also helping them to understandtheir origins. One of the most important discoveriesin human evolution was the discovery ofZinjanthropus boisei (now known as Australopithecus),a pre-human skeleton found by Mary Leakey atOlduvai Gorge in Africa in 1959. This specimenwould allow scientists to firmly place humans in aline of evolution that reached far back into historyand continues today. After this discovery, the UnitedStates government began increasing the fundingavailable for important scientific research.

Connect the

Opera Terms

?

Academy Facts✒ Built in 1857, The Academy of Music is the oldest grandopera house in the United States used for its initial purpose.

✒ In 1963, The Academy was honored as a NationalHistoric Landmark. As a National Historic Landmark, liveflame can never be produced on the stage.

✒ The auditorium seats 2,897; 14 columns support theAcademy’s tiers; and the auditorium is encased within a three foot-thick solid brick wall.

✒ The Academy of Music chandelier is 50 feet in circumference, 16 feet in diameter, and 5,000 pounds inweight. It is lowered once a year for cleaning. It used to take four hours and 12 men to hand lower thechandelier. Now it takes five minutes, thanks to an electric-powered winch.

✒ The red and gold pattern on the Academy’s stage curtain simulates that of a pineapple, a Victorian-era symbolfor “welcome.”

✒ The Academy of Music has an expandable orchestra pit to accommodate works with larger orchestral requirements. The first two rows of seats on the Parquet level are on a platform which can be removed to enlarge the pit. The decorative brass and wooden orchestra pit railing can also be moved to ornament the expanded pit as well.

2120

Philadelphia’s

Academy of Music

As the guests enter the Opera House’s mainhall, there above the proscenium arch, over theAcademy stage, a bas-relief of Mozart looks downupon the audience. This place of prominence forMozart indicates that the builders of the Academyexpected to attract the finest performing arts knownto the world. However, building this Opera Housewas not an easy task for the young country. Between1837 and 1852 there were five attempts to raise thefunds needed to build an Opera House within thecity limits of Philadelphia. After Commissioners wereappointed by an act of the General Assembly of theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania, Charles HenryFisher began to sell stock in the Academy of Musicon May 24, 1852. On October 13, 1854, the land onthe southwest corner of Broad and Locust Streets waspurchased. At that time, the area was undeveloped.(The Old State House, now known as IndependenceHall, was the heart of the city at that time.)

The Commissioners held a competition to select the design of the Academy. Fifteen architects submitted designs between October 3 and December 15of 1854. The winners were announced on February 12,1855. Gustav Rungé and Napoleon le Brun won the $400 prize. It was their idea to dedicate the Academy to Mozart’s memory. Within four monthsthe ground-breaking took place. This project was soimportant that President Franklin Pierce, alongwith Governor James Pollock and Mayor Robert T.Conrad, laid the cornerstone on July 26, 1855.

On January 26, 1857, the Academy held theGrand Ball and Promenade Concert of its opening.The first opera presented in the brand new operahouse was Verdi’s Il trovatore on February 25, 1857.Gounod’s opera Faust had its American premierehere on November 18, 1863. On February 14, 1907,Madama Butterfly premiered to “emphatic success”with its composer, Giacomo Puccini, in attendance.

On May 14,1897, John Philip Sousa’s composition“The Stars and Stripes Forever” was premiered onthe Academy stage. On March 29 and April 5, 1900,Fritz Scheel conducted two serious concerts of professional musicians. These two concerts are considered the genesis of the Philadelphia Orchestra.Today the Opera Company of Philadelphia and thePennsylvania Ballet call the Academy home.

Numerous presidents have visited theAcademy, including Ulysses S. Grant, TheodoreRoosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and RichardNixon. The Academy has had many world-famousperformers on its stage: Peter Tchaikovsky, SergeiRachmaninoff, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky,Anna Pavlova, George Gershwin, Arturo Toscanini,Marian Anderson, Maria Callas, Leontyne Price,Luciano Pavarotti, and thousands more

The Academy was made a Registered NationalHistoric Landmark in 1963. Since then, a few changeshave been made to the structure. In 1996 the“Twenty-First Century Project” began, which allowedfor a new rigging system, replacement of the stagefloor, and cleaning and restoration of the historic ceiling. With Mozart’s image looking down on theAcademy’s audiences from his position above thestage for over one hundred years, let the joy of opera and dance continue forever.

Few Philadelphians know that the great Academy of Musicwas dedicated to the memory of Mozart.

✒ In the 1800’s, an artificial floor was placed over the Parquet level seats for balls, political conventions, gymnastic and ice skating expositions, carnivals, parades, and other events. You’ll see a wooden guide along the edge of the Parquet wall that helped support the floor.

✒ The first-ever indoor football game was held on the Academy’s Parquet level on March 7, 1889 betweenUniversity of Pennsylvania and Riverton Club of Princeton. At halftime, tug-of-war matches were held as entertainment.

✒ A motion picture was first screened at the Academyon February 5, 1870. The silent movie consisted of an

oratory, an acrobatic performance by a popular Japanesegymnast, and a waltz danced by the presenter, Henry H. Heyl and his sister. 1,600 people attended.

✒ There were talks underway to turn the Academy ofMusic into a movie theater in 1920.

✒ Starting in 1884, electricity was used to light the large chandelier (originally lit by 240 gas burners), the auditorium, and stage lights. New regenerative gas lights were placed along the exterior walls on both Broad andLocust streets.

✒ Incandescent electric lighting was introduced to the foyer and balcony in 1892.

✒ Air conditioning was installed in the theatre 1959.

✒ There was no elevator for the general public in theAcademy until 1990!

For more information on the Academy of Music, go to thelibrary and take out Within These Walls, by John FrancisMarion or go online to www.academyofmusic.org.

Historic images of the Academy courtesy of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

2322

Broad Street:

Avenue of the ArtsHere is part of a map of Center City. This area,

which includes Broad Street south of City Hall, is thehome of many famous theaters, museums, hotels,restaurants and cultural centers. Here are somedescriptions of the attractions around the Academyof Music. See if you can match them to the letteredflags on the map.

_____ The Kimmel CenterDance, orchestra, chamber and folk music

_____ Prince Music TheaterContemporary music, musicals and blues

_____ Merriam TheaterTheater and broadway musicals

_____ University of the ArtsArt and Design School

_____ Wilma TheaterModern theater and musicals

_____ Ritz Carlton HotelWorld famous 5-star hotel and restaurant

1. The Academy of Music is marked on this map with a picture. What is its address?

_______________________________________

2. How many blocks is it from City Hall to the Academy?

_______________________________________

3. All but one of the East to West streets on this map have names that have something in common? What is it?

_______________________________________

4. You and your friends are planning a night on the town. You will hear a lecture about famous artists, see the Broadway musical The Lion King and scout celebrities at a fancy restaurant. Where do you go?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Playing the roles of the characters adds fun tothe reading of the libretto. This allows you to takeownership of the opera in your own classroom. Butdo you know how to act?

One of the greatest teachers of acting was a mannamed Constantin Stanislavski. He lived in Russiaand he taught his students to become one with thecharacters in the play. Prior to his day, actors oftenlooked stiff or wooden. The actors would often holdposes as they declaimed their lines. If you have everseen a silent movie where the actors over-acted tohelp the audience understand the text of the movie,this was also true of how many actors performed in theaters.

Stanislavski developed the idea that actorsshould not just tell a story. He felt that they shouldhelp the audience believe that the actors were inreality the characters they were playing. He calledthis idea realistic acting.

Stanislavski said that “the actor must first ofall believe in everything that takes place onstage, andmost of all, he must believe what he himself is doing.And one can only believe in the truth.”

In learning to act, Stanislavski’s performershad to master the following techniques. The goal isnot to memorize his techniques but to know them so well that once on stage, the actor becomes thecharacter under study.

Here are the goals of his system of techniques:

1. To make the performer’s outward activities natural and convincing.

2. To have the actor or actress convey the inner truth of their part.

3. To make the life of the character onstage dynamic and continuous.

4. To develop a strong sense of the ensemble.

His techniques for realistic acting are as follows:(Remember, in Acting, the whole is greater thanthe sum of these parts.)

1. The actor must be relaxed in his or her role. All actionshould appear as natural.

2. The actor must have strong concentration. Know yourlines and stay in character.

3. The actor must know the importance of specifics. Every little thing counts. All gestures, tones of voice, facialexpressions reflect the inner truth of the character.

4. The actor must capture the inner truth of the characterbeing performed. How does this character feel at this verymoment in this play?

5. The actor must have the emotional recall that reflects the inner truth of the character.

6. The actor must know the: Why? What? How? of the actiononstage as it reflects to the whole of the piece.

7. The actor must become one with the others in the performance so that they show the audience ensemble playing. Ensemble Playing is when the actors are one with their roles and share a common understanding of the director’s vision.

A direct correlation has been found between acting out a play in class and improved reading.

Acting the

Libretto

For more information about this exciting part of thecity, visit: www.avenueofthearts.org/visit.htm.

Constantin Stanislavski1863-1938

Gioacchino Rossini is most highly regarded forhis comic operas, or opera buffas. His operaCinderella, or La cenerentola, is one of three comic masterpieces, including The Barber of Sevilleand The Italian Girl in Algiers, which are most frequently performed.

The opera opens with the two half-sistersadmiring themselves in the mirror. (No, no, no,no…) The music has a slightly defiant yet comicaltone as the sisters assure themselves that no one isas wonderful as they. The music turns dark asCinderella, sitting by the fire, sings a touchingly simple ballad. “Once upon a time” she sings as shebegins her unaffected tale. The vainglorious sisterssnap at her to stop singing and Cinderella shows atouch of defiance as she sings her scales on the wordcantar (to sing) at her sisters.

The prince’s courtiers ebulliently burst intoDon Magnifico’s home, excited to announce thatPrince Ramiro will soon be there, O figlie amabiledi Don Magnifico (O gracious daughters of DonMagnifico). The half-sister bark out orders toCinderella, both ordering her to help dress them forhis arrival. Notice Rossini’s use of patter, or quicklyrepeated words to express the sister’s agitation,Cinderella’s frustration, and Alidoro’s compassion.This ensemble also features the typical Rossinicrescendo: the dynamics of an ensemble or passageare allowed to slowly get louder and louder untiltheir virtual breaking point.

Prince Ramiro arrives, disguised as his valetDandini. He scares Cinderella, but the two areinstantly attracted to one another, Un soave non soche in quegli occhi scintillò (A gentleness I havenever known sparkles in those eyes). In this gracefulduet, Rossini uses the coloratura runs to highlightspecific words like scintillò (sparkle), cor (heart),palpitò (palpitate or beat). Rossini has the vocal linesinterweave, intersect, and harmonize to reflect thegrowing interest of the two.

Dandini arrives, disguised as the Prince, Comeun’ape ne’giorni d’aprile (Like a bee on an April day).His music is comically pompous and ceremonial.Through the music alone we can tell how much fun Dandini is having pretending to be his boss. Thehalf-sisters react with appropriate awe and reverence,yet with a certain amount of tentativeness. The ensemble continues as the characters expresstheir emotions in dizzying coloratura runs.

Don Ramiro and Dandini meet to discussAlidoro’s reaction to the two half-sisters: Zitto, zitto,piano, piano (Hush, hush, quietly, quietly). Themusic has a fast paced, breathless, conspiratorialnature to it as the two gossip about the girls.Through the bubbly comical nature of the music,Rossini shows that both Ramiro and Dandini are flustered yet amused by these girls who are a mixture of “insolence, stupidity, and vanity.” It’s almost as if he uses the coloratura aspects to represent the two laughing at the girls.

2524

Cinderella:

Inside the Music

We’re at the ball and Cinderella has justremoved her veil. The guests, including her stepfatherand half-sisters, are in a state of shock at her beautyand striking familiarity in Parlar, pensar, vorrei,parla, pensar, non so (I’d like to speak my thoughts, but I don’t know what to say). Rossini brilliantly has time stop as the characters react to Cinderella’sunveiling. He uses variations on the theme introduced by Clorinda. Rossini uses distinct changesin melody and rhythm to express the emotions ofeach character.

In the second act, Dandini divulges to DonMagnifico that he really isn’t the Prince after all inUn segreto d’importanza (A confidential matter ofimportance). In this comic duet, Rossini starts off byhaving Dandini’s music be very comical and over thetop as he baits Don Magnifico for what he’s about totell him. Then the music becomes more dramaticuntil Dandini shocks the elder with the truth.Meanwhile, Rossini gives Don Magnifico’s music an

increasingly aggressive undercurrent.

In the famous sextet, Siete voi? (Is it you?),Rossini stops time again for the characters to expresstheir shock that Cinderella is the chosen princess,thanks to her matching bracelet. As in the finale toAct I, there are slight variations on the theme sung by Dandini, Cinderella, Ramiro, and Clorinda.Listen, too for the classic Italian rolled “r” sound onwords like gruppo, rintrecciato, sgruppa, and raggruppa.

In the finale to the opera, Cinderella ascendsthe throne and pardons the evil inflicted upon her byher stepfather and half-sisters, Nacqui all’affano eal pianto…Non più mesta accanto al fuoco (Born toworry and tears…No longer tending to the fire).Cinderella launches into coloratura fireworks onwords like baleno (lightening), lampo (flash), sogno(dream). She’s overjoyed not only that the Prince hasaccepted her for who she is, but also her family, too.

Discussion Topics1. Do you think that Rossini accurately reflects the emotions that the characters experience?

2. In the fourth excerpt, do you think that the sister’s music reflects the arrogance they display in the first musical excerpt? If not, what emotion does their music reflect in this scene?

3. If you could play any of these roles, which one would you want to perform and why?

Scene from Act 2.

The opera takes place at Don Magnifico’s mansionand the court of Don Ramiro in the early 19th century.

Act IScene One (A room in the house of Don

Magnifico) While Cinderella’s half-sisters, Clorindaand Thisbe, are admiring themselves before a mirror,she sings her favorite song about a king who, whenseeking a wife, chooses innocence and goodnessover wealth and beauty. Clorinda and Thisbe tell herto shut up. When Alidoro, advisor to Prince Ramiro,shows up at their door, Clorinda and Thisbe think heis a beggar and rudely tell him to leave, butCinderella gives him some bread and a cup of coffee.When her half-sisters notice her charity, they starthitting her and Alidoro asks them to have pity. Theyare interrupted by courtiers, who enter to announcethe imminent arrival of Prince Ramiro. He will invitethem to his palace for singing and dancing; then hewill choose the most beautiful to be his bride.Clorinda and Thisbe are so excited that they startordering Cinderella to get their shoes, bonnets, feathers, necklaces. Alidoro is ready to burst outlaughing because they are making fools of themselves.Clorinda orders Cinderella to give the courtiers somemoney; Cinderella wishes she could give the moneyto Alidoro instead.

Don Magnifico enters, complaining to hisdaughters that they woke him up in the middle of awonderful dream. He was a beautiful, great donkeywho grew feathers and flew to the top of a steeplewhere he sat like a king and listened to the bells ringing below. The bells mean happiness in hishouse, the wings mean goodbye to their commonexistence. His daughters will be queens with many children that their grandfather will embrace.Clorinda and Thisbe then tell Magnifico of thePrince’s invitation; he is overjoyed at the prospect ofone of them marrying the Prince and his dream coming true. They leave to prepare for the Prince’sparty, and Prince Ramiro enters disguised as a servant. When Cinderella comes in, Ramiro and sheimmediately lose their hearts to each other.Cinderella leaves when her half-sisters call for her;shortly afterward, Dandini enters disguised as thePrince. He compliments Clorinda and Thisbe excessively; they and their father are beside

themselves with excitement. The sisters leave withDandini. Cinderella asks Magnifico if she can go tothe ball at the Prince’s palace, but he just laughs at her. The Prince overhears him and becomes angry.When Dandini returns, Magnifico calls Cinderellaworthless and good for nothing. She pleads withDandini and Ramiro to persuade Magnifico to takeher to the ball, but Magnifico refuses and tells her to go inside and sweep up the dust.

Alidoro enters, now dressed as an official, andsays that, according to the register, there are threedaughters that live in Magnifico’s house. He insiststhat the third daughter be brought there, butMagnifico says that she died. When Cinderella startsto speak up, Magnifico tells her to shut up or he willkill her. Shortly afterward, all leave except Cinderellaand Alidoro. He tells her that a coach will soonarrive to take her to the ball and that he will provideclothes, jewels and everything she needs.

Scene Two (A room in the Prince’s palace)Dandini tells Don Magnifico that he will promotehim to cellar master, and Magnifico leaves to checkout the wines. Clorinda and Thisbe fall all overthemselves trying to get Dandini to choose one ofthem as his bride.

Scene Three (In the wine cellar) Don Magnifico,who has already tasted thirty barrels of wine but hasshown no ill effects, is overjoyed at becoming cellarmaster and pompously dictates a letter forbiddinganyone to pour the slightest drop of water into goodwine or they will be beheaded and hung. After heand the cavaliers leave, Dandini and Ramiro enter.When Ramiro asks Dandini what he thinks of thetwo sisters, Dandini replies that they are stupid andvain. The two men are confused because Alidoro hasadvised Ramiro to marry one of Magnifico’s daughters,so they decide to continue with their disguises.Clorinda and Thisbe enter, both beseeching Dandinito marry one of them. He says that it is impossible tomarry both of them, but that he will marry one andgive the other to his friend, Ramiro. They are bothmortified and refuse to marry a servant, putting himdown to his face. Dandini and Ramiro enjoy the joke.

27

Alidoro enters to announce the arrival of amysterious veiled lady. Clorinda and Thisbe immediately become jealous. Cinderella sings of herideal husband who will love and respect her. WhenRamiro hears Cinderella’s voice, hope stirs withinhim. Dandini asks her to unveil herself. When shedoes so, there is a moment of astonished silence.Magnifico, Clorinda and Thisbe are shocked by theresemblance to Cinderella, but think that she is athome among the cinders. Dandini and Ramiro areenthralled by her beauty. Everyone goes to eat,dumbstruck by the events and expressing theirdoubts and fears.

Act IIScene One (A room in the palace of Don Ramiro)

Don Ramiro sees Dandini and Cinderella approachingand hides. When Dandini, still disguised as thePrince, tells Cinderella that he loves her, she tellshim that she loves his servant instead. Upon hearingthis, Ramiro is overjoyed because he knows that sheisn’t after his rank and wealth, and he comes out ofhiding. He asks Cinderella to marry him, but shereplies that first he must see her as she really is andthat if he isn’t disappointed then she will be his wife.She gives him a bracelet and says that when hesearches for her, he will know her by the companionbracelet she will be wearing on her right hand. She hastily leaves. Ramiro tells Dandini they’reswitching back to their regular roles; he calls for theattendants to bring the coach and he is going tosearch for the woman he loves.

After Ramiro leaves, Dandini is left behind.He bemoans his sudden change in status from princeto servant. Magnifico enters, and still thinking that Dandini is the Prince, asks if he has made hisdecision as to whom he will marry. Dandini leadshim on for several minutes, telling him that it is animportant secret that must be kept confidential.He asks Magnifico how he should treat his daughterif he were to marry one of them. When Magnificosays that she should live a life of luxury, Dandiniresponds that it would be very different than that.Magnifico is confused, so Dandini tells him that it wasall a joke, that he is really the Prince’s manservant.Magnifico is outraged; Dandini laughs at him.

Scene Two (The house of Don Magnifico)Cinderella is back home by the fireside, singing herfavorite song, when the others return. Magnifico is ina bad mood, but when Cinderella asks what is

wrong, he orders her to leave and prepare supper.There is a huge storm, and the Prince’s coach breaksdown outside Magnifico’s house. Dandini andRamiro take refuge inside and are surprised whenthey see whose house it is. Magnifico grudginglywelcomes them and asks Cinderella to get the Princea large chair. As she realizes Ramiro is really thePrince, he notices the bracelet on her right wrist andis overjoyed. Everyone’s head is spinning at the turnof events. Ramiro asks Cinderella to be his bride.Clorinda, Thisbe and Magnifico all are astounded;Ramiro reminds them of how scornful they were ofhim when they thought he was a servant. Cinderellaattempts to embrace her step-father and half-sisters,but they push her away. Cinderella is so happy that she finds it in her heart to forgive them.Everyone praises her kindness and they all sing tothe end of sadness.

(Underlined words in the synopsis and libretto arelisted in the glossary.)

Cinderella:

Synopsis26

Set design for Act 1.

Angelina (Cinderella)Ruxandra Donose, mezzo-soprano

Romania

Opera Company Debut: Rosina, The Barber of Seville

1999

ClorindaKiera Duffy, sopranoPennsylvania

Opera Company Debut:Clorinda, Cinderella2006

TisbeLeslie Mutchler, mezzo-sopranoVirginia

Opera Company Debut:Tisbe, Cinderella2006

ConductorCorrado RovarisItaly

Opera Company Debut:The Marriage of Figaro1999

DirectorDavide LivermoreItaly

Opera Company Debut:Cinderella2006

Set and Costume DesignerSanti CentineoItaly

Opera Company Debut:Cinderella2006

Don RamiroLawrence Brownlee, tenor

Ohio

Opera Company Debut: Don Ramiro, Cinderella

2006

Don MagnificoKevin Glavin, bass

Pennsylvania

Opera Company Debut: Dulcamara, The Elixir of Love

1989

DandiniDaniel Belcher, baritone

Missouri

Opera Company Debut: Prince Paul, The Grand Duchess of

Gerolstein 2004

AlidoroRichard Bernstein, bass- baritone

New York

Opera Company Debut: Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro

1999

So how does a young tenor go from singing inchurches and his family in Youngstown Ohio to thegreat opera stages around the world? Ask LawrenceBrownlee, who sings Don Ramiro (also known asPrince Charming) in Cinderella. For Larry, it waspurely by chance, “My parents would force me to singas a kid. (I hated it, by the way.) They both sang anddirected the church choirs, so their influence shapedmy life. I came to opera by accident. I was takingpart in a program for gifted music students throughthe university I attended in my home town. At theend of the program, we had to do a recital. It wasthere that I sang classical music for the first time. A gentleman approached my father and asked if I would be studying there soon. I said no, but littledid I know that I would be.”

Education plays a big part in the lives of classical musicians. Most professional musicianshave gone to college and gotten their bachelor’s andmaster’s degrees. Larry received his Bachelor of Artsdegree from Anderson University and his Master’s atIndiana University.

Mentors have played an important part inLarry’s life, too. Not only were his parents importantrole models, but Cinderella’s conductor CorradoRovaris, helped launch Larry’s international career atthe prestigious Teatro alla Scalla, one of the world’smost famous opera houses, in Milan, Italy. Larrycounts African-American classical singers bass, PaulRobeson, and tenor, George Shirley among his rolemodels, too. These men helped pave the way forsingers of color today by helping to break down thewalls of prejudice in the arts.

Larry’s excited to make his debut inPhiladelphia and work with his mentor CorradoRovaris again. The tenor really likes his characterDon Ramiro, too. “Don Ramiro’s very powerful. At the drop of a hat he could end the ‘mistaken identity’ game that he and his valet Danidini areplaying with everyone, but he wants to find out if Cinderella is a good person more than anything.”The hardest part for Larry is to emotionally stay incontrol. Since Don Ramiro is royalty, he would notget overly emotional and angry. Larry says he alwayswants to do more, but he has to keep the Prince a “cool character.”

We think that Larry’s a pretty cool character,too. Not only is he a great singer, but he’s a greatdown-to-earth fellow that has all sorts of interests.Although his job-required traveling comes with theprice of jet lag, he counts himself as being very luckythat he gets to see the world. When he’s not busysinging or practicing, he loves to Salsa and Mambodancing and never misses Monday Night Footballwhen he’s in the States.

Quick Facts...Birth Name: Larry Everston Brownlee Jr.

Stage Name: Lawrence Brownlee

Hometown: Youngstown, OH

Parents: Larry and Frances Brownlee Sr.

Siblings: Cynthia, Cathy, Paula, Carol, Keith

Education: Youngstown State University, 1 yearAnderson University - Bachelor of ArtsIndiana University – Masters of MusicSeattle Young Artists Program

Fraternity: Kappa Alpha Psi Inc.

Role Models: Larry Brownlee Sr., Paul Robeson, George Shirley

Hobbies: Salsa/Mambo, Fishing, Table tennis,Basketball, Tennis

Favorites...Movies: Color Purple, Lean On Me, Coming to America, Pride and Prejudice

TV Shows: Cosby Show, Sanford and Son

Game Shows: Family Feud, Jeopardy

Foods: Korean BBQ (Bulgogi), French Fries

Desserts: My mom’s homemade sweet potato pie and banana pudding

Sports: NFL – Pittsburgh SteelersNBA – Boston CelticsCollege Football – Ohio State UniversityCollege Basketball – Indiana HoosiersTennis – Andre AgassiBaseball – Cleveland Indians

Colors: Crimson and cream

Things of Most Importance: “4 F’s”Faith, Family, Friends, Fraternity

2928

Introducing

Lawrence BrownleeMeet the

Artists

To learn more about our artists, visit www.operaphilly.com.

ACROSS

2 First name of the Italian composer of Cinderella.

3 Splendor; vain or ostentatious display.

5 A fashionable young man.

7 Consider carefully; to weigh mentally.

11 Philadelphia theatre that opened in 1857 (3 words).

12 Something false trying to become genuine.

13 Cinderella character, known as Prince Charming in other versions.

15 Worthy of reverence or respect by virtue of dignity.

16 To come to an end; to stop.

17 Deeply absorbed; engrossed.

20 The giving of help or relief to the needy.

21 First name of the French writer on whose version of Cinderella the opera is based.

23 Last name of the Italian composer who wrote Cinderella.

24 Persuasive, effortless and graceful verbal expression.

26 Cinderella’s first name.

28 A fantastical story of legendary deeds and creatures, written to teach a moral.

29 To hold spellbound; captivate; charm.

30 Reluctantly; resentful.

31 To drop straight down; plunge.

32 The quality of being insulting or arrogant.

6362

Cinderella

Crossword PuzzleDOWN

1 An attendant at the court of a sovereign.

4 To order by virtue of superior authority.

6 About to occur; impending.

8 Cinderella’s “wicked” stepfather.

9 Cinderella character who is the Prince’s valet or assistant.

10 Noise.

14 A supervisor or superintendent.

18 Last name of the French writer on whose version of Cinderella the opera is based.

19 Beg for; to request earnestly.

20 Told in secret.

22 To lament or mourn; to express grief for.

25 To attract by arousing hope or desire; lure.

27 Inspiring awe; impressive; moving.

28 Changeable, especially with regard to affections.

Academy of Music Angelina Bemoan Beseech Cavalier

Cease Charity

Charles Perrault Confidential

Courtier Dandini

Din Don Magnifico

Don Ramiro Eloquence

Enthrall Entice

Fairytale Fickle

Gioacchino RossiniGrudgingly

Imminent Insolence

Ordain Overseer Plummet

Pomp Ponder

Rapt Sham

Sublime Venerable

A synopsis is a concise summary or briefstatement of events. In writing a synopsis, the mainpoints or ideas are written and the supporting detailsare left out. To do this successfully, we must makejudgments on what are the most important facts or details.

Often you are asked after a day of school,“How was your day?” or “What did you learn today?”You know how to answer these questions becauseyou know what the important things you did were.

1. In a small group, examine the main characters of Cinderella. How did the actions of the charactersmove the plot forward? What were the most importantthings which happened?

2. Make a word bank of the main characters. List important adjectives which describe their charactertraits. Then list the verbs or action words whichhighlight their actions.

Characters Descriptive Adjectives Actions

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Now write a brief account of Act I of the opera. Check it against the actual synopsis found on pages 28-29 of this activity book. See which member of your group wrote the most comprehensive synopsis.

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6564

The sequence of a story or play is very importantfor understanding the content. The sequence ofevents explains how things happen and when theyhappen. After reading the libretto, place the followingevents in order. Re-number the events from one toten in the order that they occur in the opera. Extra credit: Write the act in which you find that event.

_____ 1. During a huge storm, the Prince’s coach breaks down outside Don Magnifico’s house.Act ___

_____ 2. Cinderella sings of her ideal husband who will love and respect her.Act ___

_____ 3. Ramiro overhears Cinderella telling Dandinithat she loves his ’servant.’Act ___

_____ 4. Alidoro asks where the third daughter is, but Don Magnifico says that she died.Act ___

_____ 5. Cinderella sings her favorite song, while Clorinda and Thisbe admire themselves inthe mirror.Act ___

_____ 6. Cinderella is so happy at becoming the Prince’s bride that she forgives her step-father and half-sisters.Act ___

_____ 7. Cinderella gives Ramiro a bracelet and tells him that when he searches for her, she will be wearing the companion bracelet.Act ___

_____ 8. Don Magnifico is angry because his daughters woke him up in the middle of a wonderful dream.Act ___

_____ 9. The Prince sees the bracelet on Cinderella’swrist and is overjoyed.Act ___

_____ 10. Prince Ramiro is disguised as a servant, and when he and Cinderella meet, they fall in love at first sight.Act ___

Sequence of the Story Make Your Own Synopsis

Active LearningChoose what you feel is the most important event in the sequence above and explain how, if changed, it would affect the other events. Illustrate the most important event you have chosen or ask your teacher if you can act out the scene with your classmates. Discuss why you feel this scene is important with your classmates. How could you cause a change in this scene and affect the rest of the story’s plot? Discuss this new view of the opera with your classmates or write a new ending to the opera.

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1. Read the following statements. Before each statement, write whether it is a fact or an opinion.

_____ 1. Prince Ramiro will choose the most beautiful woman to be his bride.

_____ 2. Clorinda and Thisbe are lazy because they make Cinderella do all the chores.

_____ 3. The Prince and Dandini shouldn’t have tricked Don Magnifico and his daughters.

_____ 4. Cinderella is the kindest person in the world to forgive her stepfather and half-sisters.

_____ 5. Magnifico threatens Cinderella with death if she reveals that she’s the third daughter.

_____ 6. Alidoro must be Cinderella’s guardian angel.

_____ 7. Cinderella gives the Prince a bracelet so that he can find her.

2. Write an opinion about each of the following topics. Support each opinion with two facts.

Love

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Kindness

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Vanity

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Cinderella

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Alidoro

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Clorinda and Thisbe

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6766Recognizing Facts and Opinions Supporting Your Opinions

1. Write “I believe” or “I think” four times. Then complete each phrase with a different statement regardingthe opera Cinderella.

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2. Identify which statements are fact and opinion by placing an ’F’ or ’O’ next to each one. Then combinethe two statements to make a sentence using the following connectives: since, because, therefore, thus.The first one has been done for you.

_____ 1a. Clorinda and Thisbe admire themselves in the mirror.

_____ 1b. They are vain.

Sentence: Clorinda and Thisbe are vain because they admire themselves in the mirror.

_____ 2a. Alidoro is crafty.

_____ 2b. Alidoro disguises himself as a beggar and an official.

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_____ 3a. Magnifico refuses to let Cinderella go to the ball.

_____ 3b. Magnifico is mean.

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_____ 4a. Alidoro says that he will provide Cinderella with clothes and jewels for the ball.

_____ 4b. Alidoro must be a magician.

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_____ 5a. When Cinderella attempts to hug her stepfather and half-sisters, they push her away.

_____ 5b. They don’t deserve to be forgiven.

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_____ 6a. The Prince is a lucky guy.

_____ 6b. The Prince’s coach breaks down right outside of Cinderella’s house.

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6968Compose Your Own Review of Cinderella Character Analysis and Dramatic Motivation

Use this word bank for ideas when composing your own review of the opera.

singing Cinderella set designer Pop Artlighting music Don Ramiro stage actionprops orchestra chorus Academy of Musicconductor plot costumes loveacting Rossini set funny

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c

1. Describe Cinderella’s personality. What characteristics does she show based upon her actions or motivations?

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2. Describe how Cinderella acts towards her stepfather and half-sisters.

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3. What do you think motivates Cinderella to act as she does towards her stepfather and half-sisters?

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4. Cinderella’s mother does not appear in the opera because she died before the opera beings. What do youthink Cinderella’s relationship was like with her mother based upon how she acts in the opera?

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5. What kinds of motivation do these characters demonstrate:

Don Ramiro, the prince ____________________________________________________________________________

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Dandini, the valet _________________________________________________________________________________

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Clorinda and Thisbe, the half-sisters __________________________________________________________________

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Don Magnifico, the stepfather ______________________________________________________________________

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We’ve heard the expression that actions speak louder than words. Actions reflect who we are by showing our motivations and intentions. In all forms of drama, whether it is a book, play, movie,comic book, or opera, characters have some sort of motivation in order to advance the action or plot ofthe story. The actions in our everyday lives are

also based upon motivation such as: desire for better grades; desire to be a good friend; desire toplease our parents; desire to buy a CD, or DVD, or computer game, etc. Write down your thoughts onthe topics below and discuss some of them with your classmates:

7170Cinderella in Your Own Words Cinderella – A Long History of Storytelling

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Now that you have a better understanding of Cinderella’s personality and motivations, reviewthe text at the right, a translation of Cinderella’s final aria, Non più mesta. Identify the motivations andcharacter traits, based upon what has happened inthe opera. Write your own version of Cinderella’sfinal monologue. What do you feel she should say toher stepfather and half-sisters? What should she sayto the Prince, Dandini, and Alidoro?

Born to worry and tears, I kept silent the painin my heart; but by a sweet magic, in the flower ofmy youth, as quick as lightning, my life changed.

(to Magnifico and the sisters) No, no: do notcry. Why are you frightened, why? In my arms letme hold you. Daughter, sister, friend: all of theseyou find in me. No longer tending to the fire, I shall no longer sing alone, no! Ah, it was a flash,a dream, a sham, my long time of yearning.

Long before Rossini wrote the operaCinderella, and long before famous versions of thestory were written by Italian Giambattista Basile(1634), French Charles Perrault (1697) – on whoseversion Rossini based the opera – and the GermanGrimms Brothers version 1812, there was the originalversion of her story. Perhaps it doesn’t come from atime or place that one would expect, but she firstappeared around 860 A.D. (the time of the T’sang or Tang Dynasty) in The Miscellaneous Record of You Yang by Tuan Ch’eng-Shih.

In it the young girl Yeh-hsien’s father has diedand she has a horrible stepmother and stepsister.Yeh-hsien catches a magical fish that continues togrow and grow. When her stepmother tricks Yeh-hsien into leaving the house, she kills the fish,serves it for dinner, and hides its bones in a dungheap. Yeh-hsien is distraught but is consoled by amagic man who mysteriously descends from the sky.He tells her to dig up the bones and hide them in herbedroom. If there is anything that she ever wants orneeds, she should wish on the bones and she willreceive it. When a festival is announced, Yeh-hsien’sstepmother and stepsister attend it, leaving Yeh-hsien to tend to the house and garden. After theyleave, Yeh-hsien asks for a beautiful dress and golden shoes to go to the festival, and she receivesthem just as the man said she would. She goes to thefestival but realizes that her stepfamily has recognized her. She runs off, leaving her peculiarlysmall golden shoe behind. The shoe comes into thepossession of the King of T’o-han. He searches allover the islands to find the woman who fit into thebeguilingly small shoe. After months of searching forthe foot that fits the shoe, The King visits Yeh-hsien’svillage. Yeh-hsien tries on the shoe and it fits her. She and the King are married and they live happilyafter after.

This tale fascinated countless other countriesthroughout the centuries. There are over 900 recordedversions of the story from virtually every continentand culture in hundreds of languages. Versions havebeen found in the Native American, AfricanAmerican, Scandinavian, Spanish, Russian, SouthAmerican, African cultures, and more. The story hasbeen the inspiration for countless novels, movies,ballets, and several operas, too.

Did you know…Because of this original story, small feet on a womanwere considered a sign of great beauty in China.Women began to bind their feet to stunt their growthso that they could have tiny feet like Yeh-hsien.

Active LearningNow it’s your turn to write your own Cinderella story.Keep in mind that there are several elements that are consistent in the Cinderella tale that you will have to incorporate into your story:

1. A family member in a unfortunate or terrible situation.

2. The aid of a helper - usually something or someone fantastical or supernatural.

3. The opportunity for a better life.

4. Acknowledgment or identification of that person’s qualities by some object or person.

5. Improvement in the family member’s situation – frequently through a marriage or other sort of coming together or union.

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19th centuryengraving ofGustave Doré’sCendrillon.

72Going to the Ball Children’s Illustrator – Arthur Rackham

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Cinderella’s not the only one going toa ball; it’s time for you to prepare togo to your ball, too! The Senior orJunior Prom can make the girls in theclass feel exactly like Cinderella andthe guys like Prince Charming, or inthis case, Don Ramiro. But proms can

be expensive, and unless you have a magical tutor tohelp you pay your way, you’re going to need to savemoney and budget your expenses to see what youcan really afford. In this exercise, you’ll be given$500 to spend for your prom. It’s up to you to decidehow you are going to spend that money. One fixedexpense is the $100 prom ticket.

Ladies, you are responsible for: ✓ Your own prom ticket✓ Purchasing or making your own gown✓ New pair of shoes✓ Any accessories – jewelry, purse, etc. that you

may need✓ Some sort of jacket or throw in case it gets cold✓ Hair, makeup, and nails at the salon or done at

a friend’s house

Gentlemen, you are responsible for:✓ Your own prom ticket✓ Tuxedo rental – including shoes, vest or

cummerbund, cufflinks, and tie✓ Flowers for your date and a boutonniere

for yourself ✓ Transportation for the evening (if you are

renting a limousine, you may ask a male friend or two in your class to split these costs with you)

✓ Dinner after the prom for you and your date✓ Pictures at the prom – a fixed expense of $50✓ Any after party festivities for you and your date

Again, it’s up to you to decide how to spendyour $500 without going over budget, with $100 ofthat going to the prom ticket. Take to the internet or do some window shopping to price gowns,tuxedos, and the like. Do anything you can to save

money – explore eBay.com, consignment or second-hand shops, or making things like your gown orflower arrangements yourself. Don’t forget to havefun with this! Express your own sense of style anddress up like you are Cinderella and PrinceCharming. It’s one of the most exciting nights of your school years. It’s important to experience it –but experience it responsibly!

The silhouette illustrations in the Cinderella bookare by British artist Arthur Rackham, one of themost famous artists of his time. He was born onSeptember 19, 1867 at Lewisham, England. WhenArthur was growing up, he was told a tale about oneof his great-great-great grandfathers, John Rackham,who was a pirate! He commanded a ship that sailedout of Providence Island. He was caught and met anasty end in 1720 when he and many of his crew were hanged at Port Royal, Jamaica. The story of John Rackam was part of Arthur’s family heritage. Each generation told his story as atradition. Some wonder if the story of pirates filled Arthur with visions and wonders that only artcould capture.

As he grew older, Arthur displayed many artistictalents. He would draw under his blankets after hewas put to bed. Arthur did not attend formal schooluntil he was twelve years of age. After four years hetook ill and was sent to Australia with some familymembers. On the trip he took his watercolor paintsand captured many of the scenes of his journey.

Once recovered he returned to England andentered the Lambert School of Art in 1884. The following year he took a job as a clerk in one of London’s fire insurance companies. He worked during the day and went to school for art at night.From this job he learned keen business skills that would aid him as he grew older. During theevenings he created sketches that he sent off to themagazines and newspapers. He also spent time making watercolor landscapes. One of his paintingsof Winchelsea from 1888 was accepted into the collections of the Royal Academy and sold at a goodprofit for the young artist.

In 1891 his work was regularly accepted by thePall Mall Budget newspaper. Rackham’s work was onthe pages of the paper almost every week of the year.He had an unusual ability to capture political leadersin cartoons. The following year Rackham took aposition with The Westminster Budget and was soon a leading illustrator of the paper. He was givenpermission to do full page illustrations. One of thesewas “The Influenza Fiend.” This drawing capturedmany of the visions that were to make some of hislater book illustrations famous.

Soon he took contracts to illustrate books. By 1896 he was widely recognized as a leading illustrator in publishing. He left the newspaper and,using the skills he learned in the fire insuranceoffice, went into business for himself. Some bookswould require over seventy drawings.

In 1899 he illustrated Gulliver’s Travels and in1900 he achieved wide fame when he illustratedGrimm’s Fairy Tales. Many of his books became collector’s items that today are very valuable. Hisillustrated his last great book in 1940, Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. It was published the yearafter he died.

Active Learning1. On a map, can you find the following locations: Lewisham, England; Providence Island; Port Royal, Jamaica.

2. Find one of Rackham’s books at your local library and see if you can copy his style.

You’ll need to do comparison shopping to get thebest prices. Perhaps you can ask your teacher or parent to help you? While the Opera Company ofPhiladelphia does not endorse any of these sites,check them out to get an idea of how much the thingsthat you’ll need to buy cost:

For Her:http://promspot.comhttp://www.bestpromdresses.comhttp://www.sewing.orghttp://www.cosmeticscop.com

For Him:http://www.afterhours.com http://www.menswearhouse.comhttp://www.limos.comhttp://www.tie-a-tie.net

For Everyone:www.eBay.comwww.overstock.com

Active Learning1. On a separate piece of paper, draw a picture of what youthink the evening will be like. You can design a gown, thelimo or car you’ll be using for the night, or your group offriends dancing the night away!

2. Assume that you have to pay for this night yourself. How are you going to save money to afford to go? If you get an allowance or if you have a job, how long will it take you to save $500?

3. Compare your budgets to your classmates. Where did you spend most of your money compared to them?

4. Did you have any money left? If so, how much?

5. What percentage of your costs went to your clothes for the evening?

6. What percentage of your costs went to your prom ticket?

7. Where you able to find the best deals and save the mostmoney for what you bought?

7574Active Learning in the Creative Arts

AccompanistActor/ActressAdvertising DirectorAnnouncerArchitectArchitectural Model BuilderArtistArtistic DirectorArt Festival CoordinatorArt TeacherArts AdministratorArts ConsultantArts Ed. Curriculum WriterAudio Engineer (recording)Band DirectorBook DesignerBook IlluminatorBox Office DirectorBusiness ManagerCasting DirectorChoir DirectorChoreographerCinematographerClothing DesignerComedian Commercial ArtistComposerComputer Graphic DesignComputer IT SpecialistConcert SingerConductor Contract Specialist

Copyright SpecialistCostume BuyerCostume and Mask DesignerCreative ConsultantCriticCutter (costumes)DancerDialect CoachDramaturgDraper (costumes)Dresser (theater)Extra (background actor)Fashion DesignerFirst Hand (seamstress)Fundraiser (Development)Furniture DesignerHouse Manager (theater)Illustrator (fashion, book, etc.)InstrumentalistLibrettistLighting DesignerMakeup ArtistManager (arts organizations)Master Electrician (stage)Model BuilderMold MakerMusic ContractorMusic Copyist and TranscriberMusic EditorMusic LibrarianMusic TeacherMusician

MusicologistOrchestratorPainterProducer (theater, TV, movies)Proofreader (music)Props BuyerProps DesignerPublic Relations SpecialistPublicistPublisherScene PainterScenic DesignerSculptorSet DecoratorSet DresserShop Foreman (stage)SingerSpecial Effects CoordinatorStage CarpenterStage DirectorStage HandStage ManagerStitcher (costumes)Stunt CoordinatorTheater DirectorTicketing AgentTranslatorTV Camera OperatorVisa CoordinatorVocalistWardrobe MistressWigmaker

Active LearningWhat career would you consider interesting? Where do you think you could go to learn more about it?

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Careers

in the Arts

Opera Dioramas1. You need a shoe box with lid, tissue box or milk carton,crayons, heavy paper (construction, tag or index), paste orglue, colored paper or paint for background.

2. Paint, color, or paste colored paper on the back and sidesof the box to make a background for the characters.

3. Draw in the background scenery. For example, you candraw houses, trees, and grass.

4. Draw characters and other scenery on a separate piece of heavy paper. Cut them out, leaving an extra piece for a fold at the bottom.

5. Decide which end the scene will be viewed through.Face the characters that way. Fold the bottom of each cut-outcharacter to the back and paste or glue in place in the box.

6. Cut out the side of the box if it is an open-view diorama.Cut out one end, put a peep-hole in the other end and putthe lid on, if it is a peep-hole diorama.

7. Write the title and author on a separate piece of paper andthen cut it out and glue it to the top or side of the box.

8. There are two ways the class may learn about the storyyou read:

A. Show the box to the class and tell them a summary of whatthe characters are doing in the diorama.

B. Write a summary of what is happening in the diorama andattach it to the box for the class to read.

Make an Opera Mural1. You need paint or crayons, butcher paper in rolls.

2. Cut a long piece of butcher paper from the roll.

3. Paint or draw a mural of an interesting part of the opera. You may want to ask some of your friends who have read the opera to help you.

4. Write the title of the opera at the top of the mural.

5. Tell the class about the part of the opera you painted or drew on the mural.

6. Hang your mural on a bulletin board or wall. Don’t forget to sign your name at the bottom of the mural.

Make Your Own Mask1. You will need paper plates, paints, crayons or markers,glue, scissors, popsicle sticks, sequins, feathers, felt,pipecleaners, buttons, beads or anything else fun you havelying around.

2. Cut out the round bottom of the paper plate and discardthe edge.

3. Cut your paper circle into the shape you want your maskto be (maybe a cat face, or just an oval...)

4. Cut out two holes where the eyes will be.

5. Glue a popsicle stick to one side of the plate, so that youcan hold the mask up to your face.

6. Decorate your mask with anything you like. Use popsiclesticks for whiskers, feathers along the top, sequins aroundthe eyeholes... Anything you can think of!

Make an Opera Poster1. Using markers and a large piece of paper, make your own poster for Cinderella.

Below are some art activities that you can do at home or in school. Think of using one of these for our art contest.

Mural from Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program, at 13th andLocust Streets in Philadelphia.

Photo by Edward Savaria, Jr.,Courtesy of Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

entice (en-tıs) v. to attract by arousing hope or desire; lure.

et al. (et al) and others (abbr. for et alii: and other people, et alia: and other things.)

exeunt (ek-se-ənt) v. used as a stage direction to specify that all or certain named characters leave the stage.

fickle (fı.k-əl) adj. changeable, especially with regard to affections.

flat (b) (flat) adj. a half-step lower than the corresponding note or key of natural pitch.

foppish (fop-ı.sh) adj. pertaining to, or characteristic of a vain man; dandified.

forte (ƒ) (fôr-ta) adv. a musical term meaning loudly.

fortissimo (ƒƒ) (for-te-se-mo) adv. a musical term for very loud.

grudgingly (gruj-ı.ng-le) adv. reluctantly, resentfully.

imminent (im-ə-nənt) adj. about to occur; impending.

insolence (in-sə-ləns) n. the quality of being insulting or arrogant.

keepsake (kep-sak) n. a thing that is kept as a reminder of a person or an event.

key (ke) n. the basic note of the main scale used in a piece of music. Music in the key of G, for example, has the sound of being based on the note G and often returns to G as a home note.

largo (lär-go) adv. & adj. a musical term meaning in slow time and dignified style.

libretto (lı.-bret-o) n. the words of an opera or other long musical.

livid (lıv-ıd) adj. extremely angry; furious.

major (ma-jər) adj. music in a major key uses a major scale, in which the first three notes are the key note followed by intervals of a tone and then another tone (for example, A, B, C). It often has a cheerful, strong sound.

melodrama (mel-ə-dra-mə) n. a play full of suspense in a sensational and emotional style.

minor (mı -nər) adj. Music in a minor key uses a minor scale, in which the first three notes are the key note followed by intervals of a tone and then a semitone (for example A, B, C). It often has a sad, melancholic sound.

muse (myooz) n. a poet’s inspiring goddess, a poet’s genius.

natural (nach-ər-əl) adj. a note that is neither flattened nor sharpened.

octave (ok-tı.v) n. a note that sounds twice as high in pitch as another is an octave above the other note, and has the same letter naming it.

opera (op-ə-rə) n. a play in which the words are sung to musical accompaniment.

opus (o-pəs) n. a musical compostion numbered as one of a composer’s works (usually in order of publication).

orchestra (or-kı-strə) n. a large body of people playing various musical instruments, including stringed andwind instruments.

ordain (ôr-dan) v. to order by virtue of superior authority.

overseer (o-vər-se-ər) n. one who keeps watch over and directs the work of others; a supervisor.

overture (o-vər-choor) n. an orchestral composition forming a prelude to an opera or ballet.

pianissimo (pp) (pe-a-nes-e-mo) adv. a musical term meaning very softly.

piano (p) (pe-an-o) adv. a musical term meaning softly.

plot (plot) n. the sequence of events in an opera, story, novel, etc.

plummet (plum-it) v. to drop straight down; plunge.

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act (akt) n. one of the main divisions of a play or opera.

ad nauseam (ad nô-ze-əm) n. to a sickening or disgusting extent.

allegro (ä-leg-ro) adv. musical term for fast and lively.

alma mater (älma mä-ter) n. a title used in reference to one’s university, college or school.

alto (äl-to) n. the lowest female singing voice; also called contralto.

andante (an-dan-ta) adv. a musical term meaning in moderately slow time.

aria (ar-i-a) n. an operatic song for one voice.

bar (bar) n. a division of music, marked by two barlines, containing a set number of beats.

baritone (bar-ı.-ton) n. the range of the male voice between tenor and bass.

bas-relief (bä-rı.-lef) n. sculpture relief that projects very little from background.

bass (bas) n. the lowest male singing voice.

beat (bet) n. the basic pulse of a piece of music.

bemoan (bə-mon) v. to lament or mourn; to express grief for.

beseech (bı.-sech) v. beg for; to request earnestly.

cavalier (kav-ə-lîr) n. a fashionable young man.

cease (ses) v. to come to an end; stop.

charity (char-ə-te) n. the giving of help or relief to the needy.

chaste (chast) adj. morally pure; decent; modest.

chord (kôrd) n. a group of notes played at the same time in harmony.

chorus (kôr-əs) n. 1. a group of singers. 2. a piece of music for these.

chronological (kron-ə-loj-i-kəl) adj. a method of arrangement that puts events in order of occurrence.

confidential (kon-fə-den-shəl) adj. told in secret.

contemporary (kən-təm-pə-re-re) adj. belonging to the same period of time.

contralto (kon-tral-toh) n. the lowest female singing voice; also called alto.

courtier (kôr-te-ər) n. an attendant at the court of a sovereign.

cue (kyoo) n. something said or done that serves as a signal for something else to be done, as for an actor to speak in a play.

din (din) v. noise.

discreet (dis-kret) adj. lacking ostentation or pretension; unobtrusive; modest.

duet (doo-et) n. a musical composition for two performers.

eloquence (el-ə-kwəns) n. persuasive, effortless and graceful verbal expression.

enhrall (en-thrôl) v. to hold spellbound; captivate; charm.

Glossary

Pennsylvania’s public schools shall teach, challenge and support every student to realize his or her maximum potential and to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to:

Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening 1.1. Learning to Read Independently GRADE 5 D. Identifythe basic ideas and facts in text using strategies (e.g., prior knowledge, illustrations and headings) and information from othersources to make predictions about text. 1.1.8. GRADE 8 E. Expand a reading vocabulary by identifying and correctly using idiomsand words with literal and figurative meanings. Use a dictionary or related reference. 1.1.11. GRADE 11 H. Demonstrate fluencyand comprehension in reading. Read a variety of genres and types of text. Demonstrate comprehension. 1.2. Reading Criticallyin All Content Areas GRADES 5, 8, 11. A. Read and understand essential content of informational texts and documents in allacademic areas. 1.3. Reading, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature GRADE 5 E. Analyze drama as information source, entertainment, persuasion or transmitter of culture. 1.3.8. GRADE 8 E. Analyze drama to determine the reasons for a character’sactions, taking into account the situation and basic motivation of the character. 1.3.11. GRADE 11 E. Analyze how a scriptwriter’suse of words creates tone and mood, and how choice of words advances the theme or purpose of the work. 1.4. Types of WritingGRADES 5, 8, 11. GRADE 5 A. Write poems, plays and multi-paragraph stories (GRADES 8 & 11 - and short stories). 1.4.5, 8, 11.C. Write persuasive pieces (Review of Opera Experience, p. 78). 1.5. Quality of Writing GRADES 5, 8, 11. A. Write with a sharp,distinct focus. 1.6. Speaking and Listening GRADES 5, 8, 11. B. Listen to selections of literature (fiction and/or nonfiction). C. Speak using skills appropriate to formal speech situations. E. Participate in small and large group discussions and presentations.F. Use media for learning purposes. 1.8. Research GRADES 5, 8, 11. A. Select and refine a topic for research. B. Locate informationusing appropriate sources and strategies. C. Organize, summarize and present the main ideas from research.

Academic Standards for Mathematics 2.1. Numbers, Number Systems and Number Relationships 2.1.8. GRADE 8 A. Representand use numbers in equivalent forms (e.g., integers, fractions, decimals, percents, exponents, scientific notation, square roots). 2.2. Computation and Estimation 2.2.5. GRADE 5 A. Create and solve word problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplicationand division of whole numbers. 2.5 Mathematical Problem Solving and Communication 2.5.11. GRADE 11 A. Select and useappropriate mathematical concepts and techniques from different areas of mathematics and apply them to solving non-routine andmulti-step problems.

Academic Standards for Science and Technology 3.1. Unifying Themes 3.1.10. GRADE 10 E. Describe patterns of change innature, physical and man made systems. •Describe how fundamental science and technology concepts are used to solve practicalproblems (e. g., momentum, Newton’s laws of universal gravitation, tectonics, conservation of mass and energy, cell theory, theoryof evolution, atomic theory, theory of relativity, Pasteur’s germ theory, relativity, heliocentric theory, gas laws, feedback systems).3.2. Inquiry and Design GRADE 7 Apply process knowledge to make and interpret observations. GRADE 10 Apply process knowledge and organize scientific and technological phenomena in varied ways. GRADE 12 Evaluate experimental informationfor appropriateness and adherence to relevant science processes. 3.3. Biological Sciences 3.3.10. GRADE 10 D. Explain the mechanisms of the theory of evolution. 3.7. Technological Devices 3.7.7. GRADE 7 E. Explain basic computer communicationssystems. Describe the organization and functions of the basic parts that make up the World Wide Web. (Check operaphilly.com tosee photos of the rehearsals and sets.) See Teacher’s Guide for additional science lessons.

Academic Standards for Civics and Government 5.2. Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship 5.2.12. GRADE 12 C. Interpretthe causes of conflict in society and analyze techniques to resolve those conflicts.

Academic Standards for Economics 6.1. Economic Systems 6.1.6. GRADE 6 B. Explain the three basic questions that all economicsystems attempt to answer What Goods and Services (G&S) should be produced? How will G&S be produced? Who will consumeG&S? 6.4. Economic Interdependence 6.4.9 A. Explain why specialization may lead to increased production and consumption.

Academic Standards for Geography 7.1. Basic Geographic Literacy 7.1.6. GRADE 6 A. Describe geographic tools and their uses.• Basis on which maps, graphs and diagrams are created. 7.3. The Human Characteristics of Places and Regions 7.3.6. GRADE 6B. Explain the human characteristics of places and regions by their cultural characteristics.

Academic Standards for History 8.2. Pennsylvania History 8.2.9. GRADE 9 8.2.12. GRADE 12 Pennsylvania’s public schoolsshall teach, challenge and support every student... skills needed to analyze the interaction of cultural, economic, geographic, political and social relations to. A. Analyze the... cultural contributions of individuals... to Pennsylvania history from 1787 to 1914.• Cultural and Commercial Leaders (e.g., Academy of Music architects Napoleon Le Brun & Gustav Rungé, opera star MarianAnderson). 8.3. U.S. History 8.3.9 GRADE 9 B. Identify and analyze primary documents, material artifacts and historic sitesimportant in United States history from 1787 to 1914. • Historic Places (e. g., Academy of Music). 8.4. World History 8.4.6 GRADE 6A. Identify and explain how individuals and groups made significant political and cultural contributions to world history. 8.4.12.GRADE 12 C. Evaluate how continuity and change throughout history has impacted belief systems and religions since 1450 C.E.

Academic Standards for the Arts and Humanities 9.1. Production, Performance and Exhibition of Dance, Music, Theatre andVisual Arts A. Know and use the elements and principles of each art form to create works in the arts and humanities. I. Knowwhere arts events, performances and exhibitions occur and how to gain admission. 9.2. Historical and Cultural Contexts C. Relateworks in the arts to varying styles and genre and to the periods in which they were created (e.g., Renaissance, Classical, Modern,Post-Modern, Contemporary...). D. Analyze a work of art from its historical and cultural perspective. E. Analyze how historicalevents and culture impact forms, techniques and purposes of works in the arts. F. Know and apply appropriate vocabulary usedbetween social studies and the arts and humanities.

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pomp (pomp) n. splendor; vain or ostentatious display.

pompous (pom-pəs) adj. full of ostentatious dignity and self-importance.

ponder (pond-dər) v. consider carefully; to weigh mentally.

premiere (pri-mîr) n. the first public showing of a play, movie, or other performance.

proscenium (pro-se -ne-əm) n. the arch or frame that separates a stage from the auditorium.

presto (pres-to) adv. a musical term meaning very fast.

protagonist (pro-tag-ə-nı.st) n. the leading character in an opera, play, story, etc.

provoke (prə-vok) v. to bring on by inticing.

prudent (proo-dənt) adj. showing carefulness and foresight. prudence, n.

rallentando (räl-len-tan-do) adv. a musical direction term meaning getting slower.

rapt (rapt) adj. deeply absorbed; engrossed.

scale (skal) n. a series of notes arranged in descending or ascending order of pitch.

semitone (sem-e-ton) n. a half step or half tone, an interval midway between two whole tones.

sham (sham) n. something false trying to be genuine.

sharp (#) (shärp) n. any note a semitone higher than another note. also, slightly too high in pitch.

sonata (sə-nä-tə) n. a musical composition for one instrument or two, ususally with three or four movements.

soprano (so-pra-no) n. the highest female or boy’s singing voice.

stage (staj) n. a platform on which an opera, play, etc. are performed for an audience.

staging (sta-jı.ng) n. the presentation or production on the stage.

status quo (sta-təs kwo, stat-tus) the state of affairs as it is or as it was before a change.

sublime (sə-blım) adj. Inspiring awe; impressive; moving.

symphony (sım-fə-ne) n. a long elaborate musical composition (usually in several parts) for a full orchestra.

synopsis (sı.-nop-sı.s) n. a summary, a brief general survey.

tenor (ten-ər) n. the highest male singing voice.

theme (them) n. the subject about which a person thinks or writes or speaks.

throng (thrông) n. a crowded mass of people.

tone (ton) n. 1. an interval equal to two semitones. 2. the sound quality of an instrument or voice.

utopia (yoo- to-peə) n. any condition, place, or situation of social or political perfection.

vanquish (vang-kwı.sh) v. to defeat in any contest, conflict, or competition.

venerable (ven-ər-ə-bəl) adj. worthy of reverence or respect by virtue of dignity, character, position, or age.

vengeful (venj-fəl) adj. seeking retribution or vengeance.

verismo (ver-ı.z-mo) n. realism in opera.

waver (wa-vər) v. 1. to show indecision. 2. to move back and forth. 3. to become unsure.

yearning (yur-ning) n. a deep longing.

Pennsylvania Department of Education Academic Standards

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State Standards met in Cinderella Sounds of Learning™ Lessons:

Opera 101: Getting Ready for the OperaA Brief History of Western Opera 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 7.3, 8.4, 9.2The Man Behind the Music: Gioacchino Antonio Rossini 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.8, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.2Rossini Timeline 1.1, 1.2, 8.4, 9.2Make Your Own Timeline 1.1, 1.2, 1.8, 8.3, 8.4, 9.2

Relating Opera to History: The Culture ConnectionGame: Musical Crossword Puzzle 1.1, 9.2During Rossini’s Lifetime: Literature 1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 1.8, 7.3, 8.4, 9.2During Rossini’s Lifetime: Science 1.2, 1.8, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3The Pop Art Aesthetic 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.1, 5.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.1, 9.2In the 1950’s: The Role of American Women 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.1, 5.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.1, 9.2Science in 1950’s America: Exploration and Discovery 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.1, 5.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.1, 9.2

Cinderella: Libretto and Production InformationGame: Connect the Opera Terms 1.1, 9.2Philadelphia’s Academy of Music 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 7.3, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2Broad Street: Avenue of the Arts 1.1, 7.1, 7.3, 8.2, 9.1, 9.2Acting the LIBRETTO 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 8.4, 9.2Cinderella: Inside the Music 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 8.4, 9.1, 9.2Cinderella: Synopsis 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 9.2Meet the Artists 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 9.2Introducing Lawrence Brownlee 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 6.1, 6.4, 7.1, 7.3, 9.2 Cinderella LIBRETTO 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 8.4, 9.2Game: Cinderella Crossword Puzzle 1.1, 9.2

LessonsSequence of the Story 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6Make Your Own Synopsis 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 9.2Recognizing Facts and Opinions 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6Supporting Your Opinions 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6Compose Your Own Review of Cinderella 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 9.1, 9.2Character Analysis and Dramatic Motivation 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 7.3, 9.1, 9.2Cinderella in Your Own Words 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 9.1, 9.2Cinderella – A Long History of Storytelling 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 9.1, 9.2Going to the Ball 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2, 2.5, 3.7Children’s Illustrator Arthur Rackham 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 7.3, 9.1, 9.2

Careers Careers in the Arts 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 6.1, 6.4, 9.2Active Learning in the Creative Arts 1.4, 1.6, 9.1, 9.2

Glossary 1.1, 9.2

State Standards Met

Written and produced by:

Opera Company of PhiladelphiaEducation Department ©2006

1420 Locust Street, Suite 210Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A. 19102

Tel: (215) 893-3600, ext. 246Fax: (215) 893-7801

www.operaphilly.com/education

Michael BoltonCommunity Programs Managerbolton@operaphilly.com

Carolyn GruganInternOpera Company of Philadelphia

Aileen KennedyVolunteerOpera Company of Philadelphia

Juan F. SaaVolunteerOpera Company of Philadelphia

Dr. Dennis W. CreedonCreator, Sounds of LearningTM

Curriculum Consultantdwcreedon@phila.k12.pa.us

Special thanks to:

Rose MuravchickJudy WilliamsThe Teachers of Our ChildrenEMI RecordsAcademy of Music Ushers

Maureen Lynch Operations ManagerAcademy of Music

Shannon Walsh Operations Assistant ManagerAcademy of Music

Greg BuchProduction ManagerAcademy of Music

Cornell WoodHead UsherAcademy of Music

R. A. Friedman The Historical Society of Pennsylvania

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