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Kids Commute - La Cenerentola Week! Monday

"La Cenerentola" Week, Kids Commute Episode 10: Una volta c'era un re

This week on IPR's Kids Commute, we're going to the opera! Don't worry if you don't speak Italian, because that opera is composer Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola - Cinderella! You know that story! (Pssst, just in case you don't, we'll have a link for you further down in this post.)

Today, we'll meet Angelina, otherwise known as Cenerentola (Italian for Cinderella). She sings a song to comfort herself while she cleans all day long.

Encore broadcast March 19, 2018
LA CENERENTOLA: Una volta c'era un re
Gioachino Rossini

Here's today's Kids Commute:

If you haven't had a chance to read Cinderella, or you need a refresher, here's a link.

Here is an English translation to Cenerentola's aria, "Una volta c'era un re," :

Once upon a time there was a king,
Who found to be lonely single life.
Searched and found, so gossips sing,
But had from three to choose a wife.

What did he?
Despised both fair and great
And in the end chose goodness, grace!

Take a look at an 1849 edition of the libretto (an English and Italian translation of the words) to La Cenerentola from the Library of Congress!

Lots of wonderful opera singers have performed as Angelina in La Cenerentola. Here's a video of Joyce DiDonato with today's aria, "Una volta c'era un re."

Kate Botello is a host and producer at Classical IPR.