To enchant his time. Such could have been Jules Massenet's intention in setting Charles Perrault's story to music. With Cinderella, the composer delivers one of his most seductive works, which differs from other lyrical adaptations of the tale. The mischievous Lucette and the women who surround her dictate the tone of the work, whose many nuances validate the words of Claude Debussy, who saw Massenet as "the musical historian of the female soul. By giving the fairy the unreal timbre of a coloratura, by transvestiting the role of the prince sung by a soprano, the composer offers us a vocal festival carried by a mixed orchestration, oscillating between Mozartian finesse, baroque stylistic quotations and great romantic inflections. For Cinderella's entry into the Paris Opera repertoire, Mariame Clément plays with the fairy tale of the myth and reflects on the profound nature of the characters, while freeing them from their narrow costumes and shoes.
