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Ensemble Caprice under the direction of Matthias Maute presents Joseph de Boismortier’s baroque opera-ballet Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse, featuring singers Arthur Tanguay-Labrosse (Don Quixotte), Dominique Côté (Sancho Panza), Catherine St-Arnaud (Altisidora) and Geoffroy Salvas (Merlin and Montesinos). Charles-Simon Favart’s 1743 libretto brings to life the characters of Miguel de Cervantes’ masterpiece: Glory-loving Don Quixote, who wants to live like a valiant knight guided by the noblest ideals, but with no sense of reality, and his inseparable “squire” Sancho Pança. The dramatic plot offers a series of intrigues as wild as those of Cervantes. The score of Don Quichotte chez la duchesse used for this recording was transcribed from Boismortier’s manuscript by violinist Olivier Brault, member of Ensemble Caprice and Sonate 1704. This is the manuscript score prior to the performances of the time, preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France; the commonly used engraved edition dates from after the premiere and includes changes that were introduced following the initial performances. “The version we propose is the result of the primary compositional work that Boismortier had in mind before submitting it to the musicians. We have chosen to focus on the arias and musical divertissements and have cut most of the recitatives,” says Maute. This version of the manuscript has never been recorded.