Rossini composed La Cenerentola at age 25 in some three weeks, following the success of The Barber of Seville the year before. It is considered to have some of his finest writing for solo voice and ensembles.
At the first performance, the opera was received by hostility, but it soon became popular throughout Italy and beyond; it reached London in 1820 and New York in 1826. Through most of the 19th century, its popularity rivalled that of the Barber, but as the coloratura contralto became rare it fell slowly out of the repertoire. However, from the 1970s onward, as Rossini enjoyed a renaissance, a new generation of Rossini mezzo-sopranos such as Cecilia Bartoli and Jennifer Larmore ensured the renewed popularity of the work.
La Cenerentola is part of the standard operatic repertoire. There are a number of recordings of it, and it is regularly performed.
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