Le cadi dupé

Le cadi dupé (The Duped Qadi, or The Duped Judge) is an opéra comique in one act by Christoph Willibald Gluck. It has a French-language libretto by Pierre-René Lemonnier. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 8 December 1761. The libretto had already been set by Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny in an opera that had premiered on 4 February of the same year at the Paris Foire St-Germain.

The music belongs to the Turkish-influenced fashion of the period and features janissary music, represented by piccolo, drums, and cymbals.

Roles

Role Voice type[1] Premiere Cast,[2]
Vienna, Burgtheater, December 8, 1761
(Conductor: - )
Cadi, the judge basse-taille Vincent Hédoux
Fatime, his wife soprano Mme Hédoux
Zelmire soprano Mme Guérin
Nouradin taille M. Darcis
Omar, a dyer basse-taille Jean Baptist Rousselois
Ali, Omar's daughter taille (travesti) Gabriel Soullé
An Aga, or Lieutenant of the Cadi spoken role[3] Antoine Durval

Synopsis

The Cadi has been flirting with other women and neglecting his wife, Fatima. The mischievous Zelmire, who is in love with Nuradin, tricks the Cadi in order to teach him a lesson. She pretends to be Omar's daughter, Ali, who is considered less than desirable. The duped Cadi plans to divorce Fatima in order to marry the pretending Zelmire, but the truth is eventually revealed.

References

Notes
  1. ^ Alfred Wotquenne, Catalogue Thématique des Œuvres de Chr. W. v. Gluck, Leipzig/Bruxelles/London/New York, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1904, p. 202 (copy at Internet Archive)
  2. ^ "Christoph Willibald Gluck. Sämtliche Werke, GluckWV-online". Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  3. ^ The role is not listed by Wotquenne (cf. above) and, according to the complete score edited by Daniela Philippi (Christoph Willibald Gluck, Le Cadi dupé. Opéra-comique in einem Akt (Gluck. Sämtliche Werke. Serie IV, Band 6), Kassel, Bärenreiter, 1999, ISMN 979-0006495528), the opera is set for: 2 soprano voice solos, 2 tenor voice solos, 2 baritone voice solos, speaker and orchestra. According to "Christoph Willibald Gluck. Sämtliche Werke, GluckWV-online". Retrieved 2018-09-12., also a spoken role.
Bibliography
  • Original libretto: Le Cadi dupé, Opera-comique en un acte mêlé d'Ariettes, Vienne, Ghelen, 1761 (a copy at books-google)
  • Bruce Alan Brown, Cadi dupé, Le, in Stanley Sadie (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Grove (Oxford University Press), New York, 1997, I, p. 675, ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2