Le Gendarme incompris (The misunderstood Gendarme) is a one-act play written in 1920 by Jean Cocteau and Raymond Radiguet and set to music by Francis Poulenc, his FP 20a.

The play features three characters: Commissaire Médor^[a] played by Pierre Bertin), a gendarme named the Penultimate whose replicas are from a poem in the Divagations by Stéphane Mallarmé, and an old lady, the Marquise de Montonson.^[1]

It was played publicly only once, on 24 May 1921, in addition to the dress rehearsal the day before. Two more performances were scheduled for 25 and 26 May.^[2]

Suite

Poulenc derived a suite for orchestra drawn from the incidental music, which was first performed in London on 11 July 1921, conducted by Ernest Ansermet).

The work comprises 3 movements for double bass, cello, violin, clarinet, trumpet and trombone:

• I. Ouverture
• II. Madrigal
• III. Final

The duration is about 6:35 minutes