Set Design
1952 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain’s leading theatre designer throughout the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, mastering every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as working in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic concepts were perfectly in tune with the times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, that style was becoming unfashionable, and Messel gradually abandoned theatre and built a new career designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.
Rossini composed his comic opera La Cenerentola in 1917. Cenerentola is the Italian for Cinderella, although Rossini's heroine is called Angelina. The opera includes the switch between the Prince Ramiro and his valet, Dandini - an episode still preserved in the English pantomime - so that Cinderella/Angelina thinks she falls in love with the valet and the Prince finds someone who loves him for himself, not for his position.
When Glyndebourne mounted the opera in 1952, they turned to Oliver Messel as designer. The light-hearted opera, with its early 19th century setting, was a perfect subject for Messel, with his love of deliciously ornate decoration, which looks like icing sugar, and his understanding of flattering, joyous, costumes.
This dramatic scene, with coach and horses in a storm, comes as Prince Ramiro searches for the beautiful, masked lady he met at the ball. His tutor, Aliodoro (who plays the part of 'fairy godmother' in the opera) causes the coach to break down outside Cinderella’s house, and Ramiro is reunited with her. Messel depicts the coach on the brink of capsizing; Aliodoro cracks a whip, causing the horses to rear, while rain, thunder and lightning batter the coach.
Rossini composed his comic opera La Cenerentola in 1917. Cenerentola is the Italian for Cinderella, although Rossini's heroine is called Angelina. The opera includes the switch between the Prince Ramiro and his valet, Dandini - an episode still preserved in the English pantomime - so that Cinderella/Angelina thinks she falls in love with the valet and the Prince finds someone who loves him for himself, not for his position.
When Glyndebourne mounted the opera in 1952, they turned to Oliver Messel as designer. The light-hearted opera, with its early 19th century setting, was a perfect subject for Messel, with his love of deliciously ornate decoration, which looks like icing sugar, and his understanding of flattering, joyous, costumes.
This dramatic scene, with coach and horses in a storm, comes as Prince Ramiro searches for the beautiful, masked lady he met at the ball. His tutor, Aliodoro (who plays the part of 'fairy godmother' in the opera) causes the coach to break down outside Cinderella’s house, and Ramiro is reunited with her. Messel depicts the coach on the brink of capsizing; Aliodoro cracks a whip, causing the horses to rear, while rain, thunder and lightning batter the coach.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Charcoal, ink, pencil, gouache, paint, watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Design by Oliver Messel for the coach and horses in Rossini's opera La Cenerentola, Glyndebourne 1952. |
| Physical description | Set design by Oliver Messel for the Glyndebourne production of La Cenerentola, 1952. Watercolour painting of a coach and horses. Coach drawn by two horses, which are rearing up on their hind legs. A coachman holds a whip to the horses. Man standing at the back of the coach. The coach is driving at night through heavy rain and there is a fork of lightening in the sky. On the right, a pencil sketch of the carriage. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Design |
| Credit line | Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A |
| Object history | Oliver Messel executed this design for Rossini's opera La Cenerentola at Glyndebourne in 1952. La Cenerentola, an opera (1817) in two acts, was composed by Rossini with a libretto by Ferretti, and was adapted from the fairy tale Cendrillon (Cinderella) by Charles Perrault (1697). Oliver Messel’s production was first performed by the Glyndebourne Festival Society at Glyndebourne on 18 June 1952; directed by Carl Ebert and featuring Juan Oncina as Don Ramiro and Sesto Bruscantini as Dandini. It was revived in 1953 (Edinburgh Festival), 1954 (Berlin), 1956 (Liverpool), 1959 and 1960 (Glyndebourne). Lord Snowdon, Oliver Messel's nephew, inherited Messel's theatre designs and other designs and artefacts. The designs were briefly stored in a disused chapel in Kensington Palace before being housed at the V&A from 1981 on indefinite loan. The V&A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005. Historical significance: Messel worked for Glyndebourne from 1951 to 1959, when he was at the height of his popularity as a designer for the stage. His work for Glyndebourne in this period is regarded as some of his best designs. |
| Production | Reason For Production: Commission |
| Summary | Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain’s leading theatre designer throughout the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, mastering every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as working in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic concepts were perfectly in tune with the times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, that style was becoming unfashionable, and Messel gradually abandoned theatre and built a new career designing luxury homes in the Caribbean. Rossini composed his comic opera La Cenerentola in 1917. Cenerentola is the Italian for Cinderella, although Rossini's heroine is called Angelina. The opera includes the switch between the Prince Ramiro and his valet, Dandini - an episode still preserved in the English pantomime - so that Cinderella/Angelina thinks she falls in love with the valet and the Prince finds someone who loves him for himself, not for his position. When Glyndebourne mounted the opera in 1952, they turned to Oliver Messel as designer. The light-hearted opera, with its early 19th century setting, was a perfect subject for Messel, with his love of deliciously ornate decoration, which looks like icing sugar, and his understanding of flattering, joyous, costumes. This dramatic scene, with coach and horses in a storm, comes as Prince Ramiro searches for the beautiful, masked lady he met at the ball. His tutor, Aliodoro (who plays the part of 'fairy godmother' in the opera) causes the coach to break down outside Cinderella’s house, and Ramiro is reunited with her. Messel depicts the coach on the brink of capsizing; Aliodoro cracks a whip, causing the horses to rear, while rain, thunder and lightning batter the coach. |
| Bibliographic reference | Pinkham, Roger (ed.) Oliver Messel: an exhibition held at the Theatre Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, 22 June - 30 September 1983.
London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. 200p., ill
ISBN 0905209508) |
| Other number | ROT 329 - TM Rotation Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.46-2006 |
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| Record created | May 11, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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