Everyone knows Charles Perrault’s version of Cinderella, full of magic and fantastical characters. But in Rossini’s opera, there’s no fairy godmother, no conjured carriage, and no glass slipper that fits only one special foot in the entire kingdom. In the libretto, written by Jacopo Ferretti based on earlier texts by Charles-Guillaume Étienne and Francesco Fiorini, the fairy godmother is replaced by the wise man Alidoro, the stepmother is replaced by an unjust stepfather, and the shoe is replaced by a bracelet, which allows the prince to recognize his chosen one. What remains unchanged, however, is Cinderella’s triumph of modesty and grace over the greed and vanity of her stepsisters, and the unconditional kindness of the main character, who, in the happy ending, forgives her former tormentors. (POK)