This three-act comedy was first performed at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples in summer 1769. The opera, which knew less success than others and is perhaps considered a minor work for this reason, offers the delightful stylistic peculiarities of Paisiello, only twenty-nine years old at the time but already a rising star in the world of opera. Cervantes’ text is treated quite freely by the famous librettist Lorenzi: the nine characters who share the stage are the fruit of a felicitous, entertaining mixture of the typical characters of the comic opera tradition and the protagonists of Cervantes’ novel. The opera was recorded live at the Teatro Comunale dei Filodrammatici in Piacenza under the direction of Valentino Metti.