''Le cadi dupé'' (''The Duped

Qadi A qadi (; ) is the magistrate or judge of a Sharia court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works. History The term '' was in use from ...

'', or ''The Duped Judge'') is an

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular ''opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Théâtre de la foire, Fair Theatres of St Germain and S ...

in one act by

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of th ...

. It has a

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

libretto by

Pierre-René Lemonnier Pierre-René Lemonnier (1731 in Paris – 8 January 1796 in Metz) was an 18th-century French playwright and librettist. Works *1760: ''Vaudeville des Pèlerins de la Courtille'', (parodie des Paladins). N, -B. Duchesne, in-8. *1760: ''Le Maitre ...

. It premiered at the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (; literally: "Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater", originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in ...

in Vienna on 8 December 1761. The libretto had already been set by

Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (; – ) was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts (1813). He is considered alongside André Grétry and François-André Danican Philidor to have been the founder of a new musical gen ...

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 Ottoman military bands were the first-recorded military marching bands. Though often known as the ''mehter'', this term refers only to a single musician in the band. In the Ottoman Empire, the band was generally known in the plural as ''mehterân ...

, represented by

piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s, and

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

Roles

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 ;Bibliography *Original libretto: ''Le Cadi dupé, Opera-comique en un acte mêlé d'Ariettes'', Vienne, Ghelen, 1761 (a copy a
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,

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cadi dupe French-language operas Operas by Christoph Willibald Gluck Opéras comiques One-act operas Operas 1761 operas Opera world premieres at the Burgtheater