Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse explained

Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse (Don Quixote at the Duchess) is a "comic ballet" (comédie lyrique) by the French baroque composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. Although it is described as a ballet, it is sung throughout with a libretto by Charles Simon Favart.

Performance history

It was first performed on 12 February 1743 at the Académie Royale de Musique et de Dance in Paris.

Roles

• Don Quichotte, haute-contre Jean-Antoine Bérard
• Sancho Pança, taille (baritenor) Louis-Antoine Cuvilliers
• Altisidore, soprano Marie Fel
• Peasant girl, soprano Mlle Bourbonnois
• Woman, soprano
• Duke, bass
• Merlin, basse-taille (bass-baritone) Person
• Montésinos, basse-taille Albert
• Japanese man, basse-taille Person
• Japanese woman, soprano Marie Fel
• Enchanted lovers, sopranos Mlles Clairon and Gondré
• Ballerinas, Marie Anne de Cupis de Camargo and Mimi Dallemand
• Male dancers, David Dumoulin, Louis Dupré and Jean-Barthélemy Lany

Synopsis

The opera is based upon an episode in the Cervantes novel Don Quixote, in which a Duke and Duchess amuse themselves by creating an elaborate ruse to fool the title character.

Discography

• Don Quichotte chez la la Duchesse (Comic Ballet in Three Acts), by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. Hervé Niquet (conductor) and the ensemble Le Concert Spirituel; Naxos 8.553647 (1996).
• Matthias Maute and the Ensemble Caprice; Atma Classique 5646702 (2024)^[1]

See also

• Baroque dance

References

• Pitou, Spire, The Paris Opéra. An Encyclopedia of Operas, Ballets, Composers, and Performers – Rococo and Romantic, 1715-1815, Greenwood Press, Westport/London, 1985 (article: "Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse", p. 168),
  • Le magazine de l'opéra baroque, accessed 2 April 2010

Notes and References

1. Robins, Brian. Review of Don Quichotte chez la la Duchesse. Opera, September 2024, Vol.75 No.9, p1267.