Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse
Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse is a "comic ballet" 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 Louis-Antoine Cuvilliers
- Altisidore, soprano Marie Fel
- Peasant girl, soprano Mlle Bourbonnois
- Woman, soprano
- Duke, bass
- Merlin, basse-taille 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
