Giuseppe Verdi: Don Carlo

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Verdi was commissioned by the Paris Opèra to write Don Carlo to a French libretto. The source material was a dramatic play by Schiller and the work premiered as a five-act grand opera in March 1867 under the title Don Carlos. Set in the 16th century, its subject is Carlo, the son of Spain’s King Phillip II, and his love for Elisabetta, whom Philip later marries. The nature of the crises and conflicts Carlo faces, personal and political, drive the drama with unremitting intensity.

In 1958 the celebrated director Luchino Visconti was invited by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to stage his first opera outside Italy. His staging of the five-act Italian-language version of Don Carlo was pivotal in establishing the work as a repertoire piece. In 1985 the Royal Opera revived Visconti’s staging, with Bernard Haitink memorably directing a superb cast that includes Ileana Cotrubas at the height of her powers and Luis Lima, unequalled in his tortured introspection, in the title role.