LDV60

WILHEM LATCHOUMIA 23 Prokofiev’s Cinderella Prokofiev completed his new ballet Cinderella in the summer of 1943. In it he chose to highlight the dramatic dimension of the scenario by Nikolay Volkhov (1894- 1965), based on Charles Perrault’s fairytale Cendrillon ou La Petite Pantoufle de verre (Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper). The story has a happy ending, with Cinderella forgiving her two sisters and marrying Prince Charming. Prokofiev did not choose the much less childish version collected by the Brothers Grimm, Aschenputtel , in which each of Cinderella’s two sisters has an eye put out as punishment . . . The music often takes an ironic view of the characters, even if it ‘refuses all complication’, to quote the composer. He omitted to mention the controlling influence of the Soviet regime, in whose view Cinderella ought to represent the archetype of an exploited heroine who revolts against her oppressors. The staged ballet consists of fifty numbers. It was premiered at the Bolshoi in Moscow on 21 November 1945. In the meantime, Prokofiev had arranged three piano cycles from its music. In 1946 he made three orchestral suites from the ballet.