Otmar Suitner, Bavarian State Opera Orchestra - Christoph Willibald Gluck: Der betrogene Kadi (1998)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 241 Mb | Total time: 49:04 | Scans included
Classical | Label: CPO | 999 552-2 | Recorded: 1974
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 241 Mb | Total time: 49:04 | Scans included
Classical | Label: CPO | 999 552-2 | Recorded: 1974
After the wars with the Ottoman Empire, the Turks – their dress, manners, and music-fascinated 18th century Europe, and poking fun at them became standard fare in Parisian vaudevilles. Gluck picked up the theme in 1761 after he became conductor of the French Opera in Vienna, using a translated French libretto by P.R. Monnier that had already been set to music by Monsigny. La Cadi Dupée ("The Duped Cadi") was believed lost until it was rediscovered in the archives of the Hamburg State Opera by the producer of this recording. The central character is a Cadi (a Muslim judge) who wants to marry the reluctant Zelmire, to the dismay of his wife Fatime. Zelmire, in love with Nuradin, pretends to be Omega, the unattractive daughter of the dyer Omar; after the marriage contract is signed and Omega appears, the Cadi has to buy his way out of the imbroglio and return contritely to Fatime while Zelmire and Nuradin go off happily.