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 Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien
("Don Carlos, Infante of Spain") by Friedrich Schiller. The story
is based on conflicts in the life of Carlos, Prince of Asturias
(1545-1568) 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 received its first performance at the
Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra on March 11, 1867.
Over the following twenty years, cuts and additions were made
to the opera, resulting in a number of versions being available to
directors and conductors. No other Verdi opera exists in so many
versions. At its full-length (including the ballet and the cuts
made before the first performance), it contains about four hours of
music, and is Verdi's longest opera. This Italian version recorded
in 1970, stars Placido Domingo, Ruggero Raimondi, Montserrat
Caballé , Delia Wallis and Sherrill Milnes. The Ambrosian Opera
Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden is
conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini.
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