Don Carlo

by Giuseppe Verdi

seen at Covent Garden on 22 May 2017

This revival of Nicholas Hytner's production of the 1884 'Modena' version of Don Carlo featured Brian Hymel as Don Carlo, Kristin Lewis as Elizabeth of Valois, Idar Abdrazakov as King Philip II of Spain, Simone Piazzola as Rodrigo of Posa, Ekaterina Semenchuk as Princess Eboli and Paata Burchuladze as the Grand Inquisitor. Bertrand de Billy conducted, and the designer was Bob Crowley.

The opera, based on the play Don Carlos by Schiller, is not especially historical, since it re-tells the story that Don Carlo, the eldest son of Philip II of Spain, was in love with Elizabeth of Valois, who was originally intended to be his bride, but who became his stepmother instead. While true that the two were of an age and apparently enjoyed one another's company, the idea that they were romantically involved is unlikely, given that the prince was extremely unstable. He did die at an early age (23) but the circumstances are not those of the sentimental story that grew up later.

However, the plot makes for a dramatic stage play and an emotionally powerful opera, not least because Don Carlo's romantic despair is challenged by his close friend Rodrigo, who attempts to inspire the prince with noble (if anachronistic) political fervour to come to the aid of the hapless Flemings. Of course, this seems only to be the worst sort of threat to King Philip, since his Flemish subjects are a thorn in his side, and Protestant to boot. He salves his conscience over disposing of his son by appealing to the Grand Inquisitor who conveniently likens the proposed filial sacrifice to God's own sacrifice of Christ.

Don Carlo is thus ensnared politically, and personally too because the spurned Princess Eboli falsely incriminates him and Elizabeth, her later repentance providing a fine dramatic aria but little comfort to anyone. Ekaterine Semenchuk gave a wonderfully fiery performance as this jilted and vengeful figure.

The production was musically very powerful, with all the major soloists in fine form. The intense encounter between Don Carlo and Elizabeth when they still believe it is their betrothal that is about to be celebrated is one of the few uplifting moments in a piece which largely concentrates on frustration, anger and despair, and the horrible political machinations of powerful older men. The camaraderie between Don Carlo and Rodrigo is also a bright spot, but Rodrigo's strength of character is perilous as well as attractive. The King finds his 'speaking truth to power' (as a later age would have it) vastly refreshing, but he has not the strength to withstand the Inquisitor's insistence that the heretic should be disposed of. Rodrigo's own idealistic hope that his friend will prove a political saviour is, after his own death, forestalled by the prince's own demise.

The darkness of the political story is matched by the sombreness of the stage designs. The opening scene in the Fontainebleau forest is icily white, but most of the Spanish scenes are dark with arresting beams of light raked across the stage, and the costumes are also dark if not black. The big public scene of the auto-da-fé brings vivid reds and golds to the fore, but as it depicts the preliminaries of a ghastly public execution this is not much consolation. The effect is to direct all the attention to the ever worsening situation of the main protagonists, and to emphasise the human emotions underpinning this fine work in the old grand opera tradition.