Don Carlo

Don Carlos falls in love with Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II of France. But his father, King Philip II of Spain, intends to marry her himself to se-cure a peace treaty. Can Don Carlos give up his love for the good of the state?



Politics and religion are dangerously entwined in Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo. Based on a 1787 play by Friedrich Schiller, Don Carlo was first per-formed at the Paris Opéra in 1867. Verdi made extensive revisions to the opera over the following 20 years. This production by Nicholas Hytner follows the five-act 1882 version – Verdi’s final thoughts on the work.

Don Carlo contains a host of vividly drawn characters, depicted through some of Verdi’s most complex music. The chilling Grand Inquisitor im-poses his will in thunderous, dark-toned music, while the revolutionary Marquis of Posa sings a stirring duet with Don Carlos in praise of free-dom. And in Eboli and Elizabeth, Verdi created two of his most sympa-thetic heroines. The Royal Opera’s staging provides a powerful backdrop, and conjures up the Renaissance splendour of 16th-century France and Spain.