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