![]() Ferruccio Furlanetto, who was last heard in the role at the Met in 2005, reprises his portrayal of King Philip, Marina Poplavskaya sings Elisabeth, and Simon Keenlyside is Rodrigo. Tenor Roberto Alagna leads the Met's remarkable new cast in the title role. The opera not only provides ample opportunity for scenic splendor, it also contains magnificent roles for singing actors, some of the greatest arias in the Italian repertory, orchestral writing that achieves symphonic heights, and a strong choral presence. "In many respects," Hytner says, "it is now Verdi's most admired opera."īased on a semi-historical drama by the great German Romantic Friedrich Schiller, Don Carlo centers on the Spanish King Philip II (1527 _1598), his third wife, Elisabeth of Valois, and his son from his first marriage, Carlos, Prince of Asturias. Today it is firmly entrenched in the standard repertory, a high-water mark of 19th-century opera (though it is not performed as often as it should be since it's difficult to cast six great singers in the leading roles). It premiered in Paris in 1867 and was reworked in several versions throughout Italy and elsewhere in the following years. In the century and a half since its creation, Don Carlo has traveled through the extremes of operatic fortune. Inevitability aside, the musical journey to get there is one of the most powerful in all of opera. They deny what their inevitable end will be." "Not one of these characters is prepared to accept his or her own tragic destiny," Hytner continues. Nobody gives in." Tyrannical kings, despairing princes, and innocent young women are not in short supply in the world of opera, but few works of musical theater boast a dramatis personae of such depth, complexity, and passion as Don Carlo. "But what makes it so attractive," says Hytner, who makes his Met debut directing the new production, "is that almost every individual in it fights, with every fiber of their being, against the opposition. ![]() ![]() ![]() A sprawling epic of powerful individuals clashing with each other and with destiny in 16th-century Spain, this "ferociously pessimistic drama" is about as dark and somber as Romantic opera gets. ![]() For Nicholas Hytner, Verdi's Don Carlo is no mere operatic tragedy. ![]()
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