Don Carlos

A brooding saga of 16th-century Spain under Philip II, Verdi’s Don Carlos sprawls with themes of family allegiance and forbidden passion. The opera has come down to modern audiences in French and Italian versions, though the former is where Verdi invested his greatest efforts, having set his musical lines to the metrical rhythms of the French language. Composed for the Paris Opera and based on a play by Friedrich von Schiller, Don Carlos reflected the French taste for lengthy historical dramas. But even before its 1867 premiere, Verdi was making numerous cuts and tweaks. Further changes were made over the next two decades and at least five versions entered the repertory, from which companies freely took elements. Versions in Italian also appeared, notably a four-act iteration for Milan in 1884. This version has become the most familiar to modern audiences, especially after the Metropolitan Opera presented it in a landmark 1950 production (the company introduced it in French in 2022). The story tells of Don Carlos, the son of King Philip II, who falls in love with Elisabeth of Valois, only to find that she has been forced to marry his father as part of a peace treaty. Verdi’s score conveys an atmosphere of persistent tension and paranoia, and while the outcome varies according to the version, the messages of duty and devotion, love and loyalty dominate to the end.