About the work
Children's opera by Peter Maxwell Davies to his own libretto, composed in 1979 and first performed on 21 June 1980 at the Orkney Arts Theatre in Kirkwall as part of the St Magnus Festival. All vocal roles are written for children's voices in their natural range, with an orchestra of recorder choir, trumpet, six percussionists, piano and optional strings suited to young instrumentalists.
Plot
This modernised version of the Cinderella story shows the title character working as an au pair for the widow Mrs Grumble and her three daughters. Excluded from the Prince's ball, she is nonetheless helped to attend by a magical cat; she dances with the Prince but must flee at midnight, losing a shoe. The Prince finds her again by the shoe, and the two marry.
Cultural significance
With Cinderella, Davies wrote one of several stage works composed specifically for children's and youth orchestras as part of the St Magnus Festival he co-founded in Orkney. Decades later, the work still drew press attention in Germany: the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger devoted an article to a 2007 production under the headline 'Cinderella in a Miniskirt'.