Giuseppe Verdi – From La Scala: Don Carlo

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 11 March 1867. Over the next 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. Performances of Don Carlos/Don Carlo in the first half of the twentieth century were rare, but in the post Second World War period it has been regularly performed, particularly in the four-act 1883 'Milanese' version. Following the notable 1958 staging of the 1886 five-act Italian version at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (director Luchino Visconti), this version has increasingly been performed elsewhere and has been recorded by, among others, Georg Solti and Carlo Maria Giulini. Finally, stagings and recordings of the original five-act French version of the opera have become more frequent, performances having been given at the Teatro alla Scala in 1970 featuring Plácido Domingo with Katia Ricciarelli, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in 1996, with Roberto Alagna as Don Carlos (which has been released on CD and DVD), and at the San Francisco Opera in 2003. A five-act version with the parts not performed in the first Paris première (all the pre-première cuts) was staged at Staatsoper, Vienna (2006) and at Liceu, Barcelona; its conductor was Bertrand de Billy.

Coro E Orchestra Del Teatro Alla Scalla
Gabrielle Santini: conductor
Boris Christoff: Filipo
Flaviano Labò: Don Carlo
Ettore Bastianini: Rodrigo
Ivo Vinco: Il Grande Inquisitore
Alessandro Maddalena: Un Frate
Antonietta Stella: Elisabetta di Valois
Fiorenza Cosotto: La Principessa Eboli

cd1:
01. Su, cacciator! (Coro) (1:34)
02. Fontainebleau! Foresta immensa e solitaria! (Carlo) (1:49)
03. Io la vidi e al suo sorriso (Carlo) (2:07)
04. Il suon dei corni or s´allontana (Carlo, Tebaldo, Elisabetta) (2:27)
05. Al mio piè, perchè? (Elisabetta, Carlo) (8:06)
06. Al fedel ch´ora viene, o signora - L'ora fatale è suonata! (Tebaldo, Elisabetta, Carlo) (1:56)
07. Inni di festa lieti echeggiate (Coro, Elisabetta, Carlo, Lerma) (6:43)
08. I - Carlo il sommo imperatore (Coro, Frate) (6:17)
09. I - Al chiostro di San Giusto (Carlo, Frate) (1:38)
10. I - È lui! desso! l´infante! (Rodrigo, Carlo, Coro, Frate) (8:50)
11. II - Sotto ai folti, immensi abeti (Coro, Tebaldo, Eboli) (3:42)
12. II - Nei giardin del bello (Eboli, Tebaldi, Coro) (4:56)
13. II - La Regina! - Carlo, ch´è sol il nostro amore (Coro, Eboli. Elisabetta, Tebaldo, Rodrigo) (6:51)
14. II - Io vengo a domandar grazia alla mia Regina (Carlo, Elisabetta) (8:39)
15. II - Il Re! (Tebaldo, Filippo, Coro) (1:17)
16. II - Non Pianger, mia compagna (Elisabetta, Coro, Rodrigo, Filippo) (4:21)
cd2:
01. II - Restate! - O signor, di Fiandra arrivo! (Filippo, Rodrigo) (13:11)
02. Preludio (2:53)
03. I - A mezzanotte, ai giardin della Regina… Sei tu, sei tu, bell´adorata (Carlo, Eboli) (4:49)
04. I - Che disse mai! (Rodrigo, Eboli. Carlo) (7:27)
05. II - Spuntato ecco il dì d'esultanza (Coro, Araldo) (8:55)
06. II - Nel posar sul mio capo la corona (Filipo, Coro, Elisabetta, Rodrigo, Carlo, Deputati, Tebaldo, Voce) (11:32)
cd3:
01. I - Ella giammai m'amò! (Filippo) (10:25)
02. I - Il Grande Inquisitor! (Lerma, Inquisitore, Filippo) (9:22)
03. I - Giustizia, Sire! - Ah! sii maledetto, sospetto fatale (Elisabetta, Filippo, Eboli, Rodrigo) (7:21)
04. I - Pietà! perdon! per la rea che si pente (Eboli, Elisabetta) (3:12)
05. I - Ah! Più non vedrò la Regina! O don fatale, o don crudel (Eboli) (5:08)
06. II - Son io. mio Carlo (Rodrigo, Carlo) (2:57)
07. II - Per me giunto è il dì supremo (Rodrigo) (2:50)
08. II - Che parli tu di morte (Carlo, Rodrigo) (5:39)
09. II - Mio Carlo, a te la spada io rendo! (Filippo, Carlo, Coro, Lerma, Eboli, Inquisitore) (3:30)
10. Tu che le vanità conoscesti del mondo (Elisabetta) (10:35)
11. È dessa! - Un detto, un sol (Carlo, Elisabetta) (6:48)
12. Si, per sempre! (Filippo, Inquisitore, Elisabetta, Carlo, Frate, Coro) (1:55)

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