Eric Coates: Cinderella - A Phantasy for Orchestra (1929)

One of the best loved (non-biblical) Christmas stories is Cinderella. It will be the focus of many pantomimes up and down the country as well as showings of the Disney film (1950) on TV. There may even be performances of Prokofiev’s eponymous ballet score or the opera La Cenerentola (1817) by Gioachino Rossini.

Eric Coates’s’ (1886-1957) Cinderella was the third work to have been inspired by his wife Phyl’s bedtimes stories told to their son Austin. The other two were The Selfish Giant (1925) and The Three Bears.

Cinderella was completed at Selsey House on 9 September 1929. The Daily Express, (1 July 1937) explains that some of the work’s orchestration was done during a bridge party. (cited Payne, 2012, p.81). It was premiered on 28 November during an Eastbourne Festival Concert. I was unable to find a review of this concert. However, Geoffrey Self explains that the composer conducted, and the “work was rapturously received by the audience and, with unqualified approbation by the critics.” (Self, 1986, p.45). Coates “held the Phantasy in the highest regard, informing the conductor Joseph Lewis: ‘I think it is really the best thing I have done...’”

The orchestral and piano scores were published in 1930 by Chappell. One significant feature are the notes included in the score explaining the events in his musical interpretation of the story. It carries the following note: “This Phantasy, dedicated to the "Cinderella" of our imagination, can be performed either as a concert piece or as a ballet.” The work is scored for a normal full orchestra with a wide range of percussion. The piece lasts about thirteen minutes.

The piano score of Cinderella gives a detailed synopsis of the Phantasy:

"Opening with a quiet unaccompanied melody (andante 4/4) Cinderella is discovered sitting sadly alone by the fire. A little four-note phrase, repeated several times, then gives us the keynote of the piece - the Fairy Godmother's call "Cinderella!" This is followed by an agitato 12/8, where the Fairy Godmother calls her attendants, who dress Cinderella for the ball. The fairy coach arrives, and she is driven away (allegro 2/ 4), the reiterated chords in the right hand representing the ponies' hoofs. A change in the character of the music (a descending chromatic phrase, aptly illustrating her sinking heart) shows a moment of anxiety for Cinderella, which soon disappears as she nears the Palace. Upon her arrival in the ballroom, we hear the music of the dance in full swing. She surveys the dancers, and the music broadens as the Prince sees her and enraptured by her beauty, approaches, asking her to dance. She hesitates shyly for a moment (rall.), and then she and the Prince dance together to the principal valse theme (valse lento). This works up to a climax, at the height of which the striking of the midnight hour is heard. Through this comes the Fairy Godmother's call of "Cinderella!" - a fully harmonised version of the original "Cinderella" call. A rapid ascending chromatic scale shows Cinderella running from the ballroom to her fairy coach, leaving one little slipper at the Prince's feet.

Two pause bars, tremolo dying down to a pp., mark the passing of time, and we find ourselves back once more with Cinderella at the fireside. The original melody of the introduction, now accompanied by quiet tremolo chords, denotes her loneliness. She fancies she hears her Fairy Godmother calling to her again, and dreams of the Prince. The Prince's drummers and trumpeters are heard in the distance. He is searching the town for the owner of the little slipper. This fanfare leads to a tempo di marcia, a humorous little march which, commencing p., as if in the distance, increases in power and fullness as the Prince and his retinue approach, reaching the climax as they enter Cinderella's house. A sudden diminuendo and we hear the Fairy Godmother's call of "Cinderella" while Cinderella's sisters are vainly trying on the slipper. We now return to the Valse theme, but this time in 4/4, broadly, and the final climax is reached as the shoe slips on to Cinderella's little foot. The phantasy finishes with a brief return to the march theme (allegro molto), and they all live happily ever after."

The work opens with a nod to Debussy’s Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un Faune, before a more typical Coates sound gets underway. The listener will note the little four-note phrase (E, Eb, D, G) that mimics the Fairy Godmother calling ‘Cin-der-ella.’ All the usual Coates fingerprints are present in this piece – gentle syncopation, good orchestration, and memorable tunes. Often waltzes and marches are the underlying formal principle. Two important waltzes emerge, firstly, the sweep of the ball in full progress and secondly a “slower sensuous” dance as the Prince and Cinders meet. The climax of the work is reached when the clock strikes midnight. It is interesting to note that at the conclusion of the Phantasy, the slow waltz is revisited, but this time in a forceful and romantic 4/4 time.

Although Coates’s work was conceived as a tone poem or Phantasy for the concert hall, there are many elements of this piece that will strike the listener as being ideal ballet music.

One last footnote. Cinderella was used in the British drama film, Symphony in Two Flats (1930). This starred Ivor Novello. Coates had previously agreed with the BBC to broadcast the work on 28 January 1930. However, the film’s directors were “anxious that the public did not hear Coates’ music before the release of the film.”  Coates asked for the piece to be excluded from the BBC concert. (Payne, 2012, p.81).

Listen to the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra  conducted by Rumon Gamba on Chandos CHAN9869, 2002, here.

Bibliography:
Self, Geoffrey, In town tonight: A centenary study of the life and music of Eric Coates, Thames Publishing, 1986.
Payne, Michael, The Life and Music of Eric Coates, Farnham, Ashgate, 2012.