At the Opera

Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play by Friedrich Schiller. The story is based on conflicts in the life of Carlos, Prince of Asturias after his betrothed Elisabeth of Valois was married instead to his father Philip II of Spain as part of the peace treaty ending the Italian War of 1551–1559 between the Houses of Habsburg and Valois. It was commissioned and produced by the Paris Opera and premiered on March 11, 1867. This 1971 recording stars Placido Domingo and Montserrat Caballe. Carlo Maria Giulini conducts.