Don Carlos - Subsequent Performance History

Subsequent Performance History

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. Charles Mackerras conducted the five-act version (complete with Verdi's original prelude, the woodcutters' scene and the original ending) in an English translation for English National Opera at the London Coliseum in 1975.

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 1986 and 2003. A five-act version including the parts not performed in the first Paris première (but omitting the ballet "La Pérégrina") was staged and conducted by Sarah Caldwell with the Opera Company of Boston in 1973. The complete uncut French version was performed first at the Hamburg State Opera in 2001, then and as filmed for DVD at the Staatsoper in Vienna (2004) and at the Liceu, Barcelona (2006); its conductor in Vienna was Bertrand de Billy. Conducting it for Hamburg and the Liceu have been Ingo Metzmacher and Maurizio Benini respectively.

In April 2012 the Houston Grand Opera presented the five-act French version.