Thirteen Pieces from Cinderella

In the winter of 1940, Prokofiev sat down with the librettist Nikolai Volkov to sketch a new ballet. One year later, the first two acts of the renowned fairy tale Cinderella were finalized, based on the literary work by Charles Perrault. As in the case of Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev published independent piano versions before the premiere of the main work, which in the case of Cinderella primarily served to utilize the pieces that had already been composed.

While the Three Pieces Op. 95 from 1942 refer to Cinderella herself, the Ten Pieces Op. 97 from 1943 consist of character dances for other figures in the ballet. The composer wrote an arrangement of the final Adagio for cello and piano (Op. 97b). In 1944 he added a further Six Pieces Op. 102 for piano; three orchestral suites followed in 1946 (Opp. 107, 108, 109).