The slightly longer-than-usual performance that results from these additions (four hours, including two intermissions) puts extra demands on the singers, but the cast was equal to the challenge. (In some versions, Carlos' fate is left unclear, but Houston, using the music of the original 1867 ending, has him murdered on stage.) Elisabeth at first forgives her - until Eboli further admits she has slept with the king herself.Īnd in the next scene, there's a restored duet for Carlos and his father, which cements their hatred for one another and leads Philippe to authorize the Inquisition to dispose of his son. The princess confesses she also loves Carlos and out of jealousy has goaded the king into thinking his wife is unfaithful. In Act 4, we hear an often-omitted duet between Elisabeth and the flirtatious Princess Eboli. Their pleas to Elisabeth to end their wartime suffering - and her generous response - help explain why she soon feels trapped into accepting marriage to Philippe, instead of the son she loves. The Houston production opens with a chorus of peasants in the forest of Fontainebleau. But at the last minute, his father claims her for himself - and the young man is set on a course of self-pity and political rebellion.
Carlos, son of Spain's King Philippe II, is engaged to marry the French princess Elisabeth of Valois to seal a peace treaty between their countries. Verdi based his opera on a play by Friedrich Schiller about political and romantic turmoil in 16th century Europe. Seen on Sunday afternoon in a sumptuously sung and spare, powerful production, this expanded version enriches our understanding of an array of fascinating characters whose motivations can seem obscure. But the Houston Grand Opera is going a bit further, offering the original French-language version and restoring several scenes that still are rarely included.
Nowadays, we generally hear all five acts of this sprawling epic. Verdi added and cut scenes, tinkered with the ending, and at one point even authorized omitting the whole first act - an abridgment that used to be standard practice for opera companies. HOUSTON - One of the grandest of grand operas, Verdi's "Don Carlos" is rarely performed with every note of music the composer wrote for its 1867 premiere or for his many revisions over the next two decades.
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