Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck (1714-87) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer of operas, credited with the 18th-century reform of the genre. For details of his life and work see Oxford Music Online. La cinesi was Gluck's first comic opera set to the libretto by Pietro Metastasio and reflecting European 18th-century chinoiserie. It was comissioned by the imperial field marshal Joseph Friedrich, Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen and premiered at his residency Schloss Hof on 24 September 1754.

There are only two other known accounts of the premier of Gluck's setting, that in Count Ditters von Dittersdorf’s autobiography, and a very full report on the festivities in the Wienerisches Diarium. The present account, dated 29 September 1754, precedes them both.