Le caïd is a rarely performed opera and is known mainly for the popular coloratura bass aria "Air du Tambor Major" (Drum Major's Air) which has been recorded by many celebrated bass singers throughout the previous century;[2][3] The overture was also popular and was recorded several times by bands and orchestras in Europe and the U.S. prior to the First World War.

[9] Outside France the opera was first performed in Brussels on 26 August 1849,[8] in London at St James's Theatre on 8 February 1850,[10] and in New Orleans at the Théâtre d'Orléans on 18 April 1850.

Birotteau, a French hairdresser with a shop in the town, approaches the caïd with the offer of a "secret talisman" which will protect him from the depredations of his subjects.

Faced with Virginie's vow of vengeance and Michel's threat to cut his ears off, Birotteau refuses to marry Fathma in exchange for the "secret talisman" after all.

The caïd reluctantly pays Birotteau the 20,000 boudjous, only to discover that the talisman is a recipe for a hair pomade which purportedly cures baldness.

Félix Clément and Pierre Larousse in their 1869 Dictionnaire lyrique described Le caïd as follows: It cannot be denied that this work is amusing and the music very agreeable.

It is likely due to the disparity of costume and theatrical genre, that people of taste saw with pain ever increasingly popular in France, pieces in which no true sentiment is taken seriously, and the spectator finds no respite from the buffooneries and stunts [cascades] of the actors.