On Tuesday 27 December 2022 at 7 pm the principal conductor Daniele Gatti, on the podium of the Maggio for the “Don Carlo” masterpiece by Giuseppe Verdi, opera in the four-act version, which inaugurates the renovated stage of the Sala Grande. Directed by Roberto Andò, on the bill a large cast formed by Francesco Meli as Don Carlo, Eleonora Buratto in the role of Elisabetta di Valois; Mikhail Petrenko as Philip II, Roman Burdenko as Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa; Ekaterina Semenchuck plays Princess Eboli, Alexander Vinogradov is the Grand Inquisitor.

The first performance on December 27 will be broadcast live on Rai Radio 3.

Florence, December 19, 2022 – After three months of busy programming, the Maggio Autumn Festival comes to its last opera on Tuesday 27 December at 7 pm: scheduled, on the occasion of the inauguration of the renovated stage of the Sala Grande of the theatre, the Don Carlo masterpiece by Giuseppe Verdi, in the Italian version in 4 acts that saw the light at La Scala on 10 January 1884. On the podium, at the head of the Choir and the Orchestra del Maggio, the principal conductor Daniele Gatti, in his second opera appointment after the performances of the Barbiere di Siviglia last September; directed by Roberto Andò.

In the playbill, a dazzling singing company formed by Francesco Meli as the Infante of Spain Don Carlo who hopelessly loves Elizabeth of Valois, played by Eleonora Buratto, Mikhail Petrenko in the role of the “severe and terrible” sovereign Philip II; the role of Rodrigo, Marchese di Posa, Carlo’s favorite friend, is played by Roman Burdenko and Massimo Cavalletti (in the performance of 8 January), Ekaterina Semenchuck plays the jealous and impetuous Princess Eboli, Alexander Vinogradov is The Grand Inquisitor. Evgeny Stavinsky is Un Monaco, Nikoletta Hertsak and Aleksandra Meteleva (in the performances of 5 and 8 January) play Elisabetta Tebaldo’s page; Joseph Dahdah in the double role of Il Conte di Lerma/A royal herald; Benedetta Torre is A voice from heaven, while a large group of artists and former artists of the Accademia del Maggio interprets the Flemish deputies: Matteo Mancini, Volodymyr Morosov, Matteo Torcaso, Eduardo Martínez Flores, Davide Piva, William Hernandez, Lodovico Filippo Ravizza and Roman Lyulkin.

In this new set-up, scenes and lights are taken care of by Gianni Carluccio, the costumes by Nanà Cecchi and the video department by Luca Scarzella. Assistant director is Boris Stetka. The choir master of the Maggio is Lorenzo Fratini.
The performance on December 27 will be broadcast live on Rai Radio 3.

Four other performances are scheduled on the bill: 30 December and 3 and 5 January 2023 at 7 pm and 8 January 2023 at 3.30 pm. Thanks to the CR Firenze Foundation, the performance on 05/01/2023 is offered to the public with a 50% discount on tickets in each sector.

We arrive with Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi, composed in the original French version between 1864 and 1865 and revised in the Italian edition in four acts in 1884, to the last title of the Autumn Festival of May dedicated to the Busseto swan, which saw the programming of three of his works with a Hispanic background with the performances of Il Trovatore, the inaugural work of the Festival directed by Zubin Mehta between September and October, and those of Ernani, directed by James Conlon in November. Performed on this occasion in its Italian version in 4 acts, Verdi’s masterpiece is the fourth based on a story by Friedrich Schiller after the successes of Giovanna d’Arco, I masnadieri and Luisa Miller, with the libretto written by François-Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle and then translated into Italian by Achille de Lauzières and Angelo Zanardini.

The opera, staged at Maggio four times so far in the Italian version and three in the French version in 5 acts, thus marks the reopening of the renovated stage of the Sala Grande of the Theater: “We are proud to be able to present to the public a Theater that is starting final completion” said the Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella on December 7 during the presentation to the media. stages, wings, effects, dimensions that will considerably change the quality and quantity of the works represented.”

Even the superintendent of Maggio Alexander Pereira, during the press conference to present the work, expressed his satisfaction in this regard: “The Great Hall of our Theater is finally becoming one of the best equipped and most efficient venues in the world. I am particularly proud that this is happening with the proposal of Don Carlo, what for me is one of Verdi’s greatest masterpieces, directed by our principal conductor Daniele Gatti and directed by a highly esteemed man of theater and cinema like Roberto Andò, and with a wonderful cast of performers among the best artists on the international scene. The new stage will allow, with its cutting-edge technology, to stage very complex opera performances with artistic results at the level of the great Maggio tradition; the Theater thus becomes not only a true ‘Park of music’, but contributes to making Florence the City of Festival.”

The superintendent then passed the floor to maestro Daniele Gatti: “I am returning to direct Don Carlo after 14 years, after the show on December 7th, 2008 at La Scala in Milan: it is a work that I have always loved deeply, full of dramaturgical contrasts between what which is the concept of power and what is the most intimate aspect of the characters. Returning to a similar score after years fascinated me. I am lucky to have been able to do it together with a decidedly sensitive cast, endowed with a great ability to share an idea or a dramaturgical and musical path. Anyone who knows my approach to conducting knows that I don’t like forcing the artists I work with vocally, thus trying to make the most of the ‘colors’ of their voices and, with the large spaces in the Great Hall, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to exploit these dramaturgical needs . Then I thought that this could ideally be an almost starting point for a ‘collaboration’ between us and the public, who can push themselves forward on the seats, ‘literally coming towards us’ to be able to enjoy these thousand vocal nuances that characterize the musical construction of the work . One way, this, to be able to recreate that intimacy that exists between stage and audience”. Maestro Gatti then concentrated on the character of Philip II, one of the cornerstones of the work, and on the work with Roberto Andò: “At the narrative level, great attention was given to Philip II, whose figure was literally ‘skinned’, also from his external strength: inside, in his heart, there is only a sea of melancholy loneliness. Perhaps the character who changes and transforms the most in the narrative course of the work. Reading this work making it clear that whoever manages power is also the one who is permeated by this abysmal loneliness is really one of the reasons why I know that a work like Don Carlo never stops discovering it and never stops teaching. It was also splendid to work with Roberto Andò for the first time: he is an ideal partner, great harmony during the rehearsals. ” Gatti then closed his speech with a consideration on the interpretation of Verdi’s works: “A ‘revisitation’ work may seem arid, a dry interpretation. The challenge is partly this too; succeed us, as a musical company, in giving “an interpretation of the interpretation”. With Verdi we are faced with the most brilliant psychologist and musical director that can be found; in some parts it is he who investigates the psychological part of the character: if we have the humility to understand this, we can work to be at the ‘service’ of a direction already written by Verdi on the sly but which – be careful – does not mean copying the score, but to understand, assimilate and understand it. There are musical passages that clearly show how the composer himself already investigated the psyche of his protagonists. We will try to illuminate this work in some aspects that are not linked to an extemporaneous interpretation. A conductor’s vision in this must evolve, letting himself be guided by the true demiurge, in this case Giuseppe Verdi.”

Roberto Andò, who returns to Maggio after the shows of Siberia by Umberto Giordano staged in July 2021, is directing this new production. In connection with his studio in Rome, Andò underlined how important it was to try to highlight the ‘intimate’ drama conceived by Verdi: “Facing Don Carlo is truly a great pleasure; it is a grandiose work that never gives you firm conclusions. We can try, musically and otherwise, to observe the infinite facets it offers. Working with Gatti was harmonious and intense, a job tackled together with great depth. We have worked to restore that sense of grandeur but also of intimate solitude that characterizes the powerful who are represented there: Don Carlo is this, the tragedy of power; a power seen in its human and political inadequacy. The work is ‘black’: Verdi offers us a tragic pessimism in the relationships surrounding power. In this opera Verdi exalts that psychological realism in an extraordinary way, with a truly impressive wealth of nuances: each of the characters is suspended, in the mysterious relationship between history and intimacy, within the ‘black circle’ represented by power. The characters are indeed granite, but partly consumed by doubt: Filippo for example wants to be the Inquisitor’s son and does not know how to be Carlo’s father while he would like Posa as his son; here the music takes us to a dimension almost parallel to the vine that is given to us. There are all Verdi’s ‘classic’ themes which therefore return: the father-son relationship, the sublimation of love, a profound pessimism and a libretto, based on the tragedy by Friedrich Schiller, which is basically inspired by invented facts. Schiller made Carlo a romantic and decadent hero, and Verdi continues on this path. We are therefore looking for this: to ‘restore’ an idea of an intimate, psychological and absolutely modern drama, which comes close to what we experience today in all manifestations of power. From this point of view, the work is literally overwhelmingly topical.” He went after having worked at a very young age as assistant director for two legendary filmmakers such as Federico Fellini and, later, and Francis Ford Coppola, since 1980 he has alternated prose, opera and film directions. In prose theatre, his partnership with Harold Pinter should be remembered, to whom he will dedicate a documentary-portrait presented at the Venice Film Festival in 1998, as well as directing Old Times, The Room and Celebration. Among the other shows of his long career: The Kafka case and The stories of Mr. Keuner by Bertold Brecht with Moni Ovadia, Still life for human rights by Eco, Auster, Baudrillard, Weiss with Isabelle Huppert, Seven stories to leave the world ( 2006), a work for music and film by him and Marco Betta, Just as if nothing had happened by Anna Maria Ortese with Anna Bonaiuto and Piazza degli heroes by Thomas Bernhard, with Renato Carpentieri. His first opera direction was Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien by Claude Debussy, and since then he has been present in the most important Italian and international opera houses, taking care of the direction of numerous titles such as L’esequie della luna by Pennisi, Norma, Die Zauberflöte, Tancredi by Rossini and Les Enfants and the sortilèges by Ravel; Die fliegende Höllander, Cavalleria rusticana together with Oedipus Rex by Stravinsky, Die Winterreise by Schubert, Turandot, and Il Turco in Italia. His cinematographic production is also very rich, where he has supervised the direction of numerous highly successful films such as Long live freedom, Confessions, Una storia senza some and the recent, highly acclaimed, La stranezza.

Francesco Meli, in his second Verdi production as part of the Autumn Festival after Ernani last November, plays Don Carlo: “I return to face this quivering, tormented and complex opera by Verdi, here at the Teatro del Maggio in the course of the festival dedicated to Verdi, in the four-act version which is my favorite” says Meli, who explains: “I am fascinated by the genesis of this opera, the reworkings and the cuts that the composer made over the course of twenty years and since in Verdi nothing is by chance, I had the umpteenth proof of this in the course of studying the different versions. But the one that is generally staged, the Milanese version of 1884, has a completeness that enchants and moves. We notice it first of all from the contrasts between the parts where the pressure of events and therefore of the music is frenetic, which prepare lyrical-melodic oases of absolute beauty. The charm of the work is the result of the theatrical effectiveness added to the genius of the music. But the charm of the individual characters is also undeniable, I am thinking above all of Philip II, of Rodrigo but also of the Queen. It is no coincidence that Don Carlo gives the title to the work: in the dramatic conflicts on which the plot develops and which can be summarized in the contrasts between father and son, between the different political conceptions of the King and Rodrigo and above all between the State and Chiesa, Don Carlo is an impetuous young man when moved by a patriotic spirit, ardent in his dangerous love for Elisabetta. Verdi reserves for him a formidable texture that requires great mastery of one’s vocal means. Just as he claims from his Don Carlo half-voices that of this fundamentally impulsive character help to enhance his lyrical traits. This new production of Don Carlo rests on the direction of Daniele Gatti and on a creative team with Roberto Andò who above all want to highlight the tragedy of power. The cast is stellar and expectations are high, as indeed befits this work that is not so frequently staged”.

Meli, one of the most appreciated and esteemed Italian tenors, indeed “the” Italian tenor par excellence, began his career at the age of just over twenty, first in the bel canto and Rossini repertoire and later in the operatic one, above all Verdi’s.

Equipped with a vast repertoire that spans over fifty roles, during his career he has been directed, among others, by Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung and Daniele Gatti. He has won prestigious awards such as: the Abbiati Prize in 2013 for Verdi’s interpretations, The Gold Mask, the opera Oscar, the Zenatello Prize at the Arena di Verona, the Orazio Tosi Prize, the Carlo Alberto Cappelli Prize, the Pertile, the Caruso Award, the Lugo Award, the Prandelli Award, the Mascagni Award, the golden Tiberini, the golden ISO, the Labò plaque and the golden Pavarotti. In November 2021, his first monographic album, Prima Verdi, was released, recorded with the Orchestra of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino conducted by Marco Armiliato and published by Warner. He has performed on some of the most prestigious international stages, from the New York Metropolitan to Covent Garden. As for the symphonic repertoire, in addition to Verdi’s Requiem, it has in its repertoire those of Mozart, Donizetti, Dvořák and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater by Rossini, Messa di Gloria by Puccini and Mascagni, Hymn of the Nations by Verdi , Stabat Mater by Dvořák and Pulcinella by Stravinsky. He has also recorded numerous DVDs published by labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Unitel, Opus Arte and will be the protagonist of two other opera titles also during the next Carnival Festival dedicated to Faust and Goethe.

Eleonora Buratto, who returns to the Maggio for the second time in her career after the concert on June 28, 2015 conducted by maestro Gatti, plays Elisabetta di Valois, a role that recently made her debut at the Metropolitan in New York where she received warm responses from the public and from prestigious publications such as the NY Times and the Chicago Tribune. Speaking of her character, she also underlined her happiness in returning to the May stage: “In this important year for me thanks to four role debuts, I am particularly proud to sing for the first time in Italy as Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo. I do it at the Teatro del Maggio, during a festival dedicated to Verdi, with a fantastic cast and under the direction of maestro Daniele Gatti. Above all, I’m returning to the Teatro del Maggio after four years thanks to this Don Carlo: I only sang here in 2015, in the Symphony n. 2 by Mahler, still under the baton of maestro Gatti. I made my debut as Elisabetta last November at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, thus adding another great Verdi character to my repertoire. I loved giving voice and heart to this queen crushed by a destiny decided by power, yet regal in the role of bride and in female underwear from the beginning to the end of the grandiose story. The figure of Elisabetta, as Verdi wanted her, is extraordinary precisely because she is inserted in events that describe two different political conceptions but also the impossible love between Elisabetta herself and her stepson, Don Carlo, the infant of Spain of Philip. An excruciating contrast, that between parent and child, always significantly recurring in Verdi’s dramaturgy, which here therefore develops on an intimate level but also on a political one. Both succumb to the power of the Church through the figure of the Grand Inquisitor. The new staging of the Teatro del Maggio takes advantage of the direction of Roberto Andò who focuses precisely on what he calls the tragedy of power, highlighting the profound pessimism and the extraordinary modernity of this work”. Eleonora Buratto is among the most appreciated and requested performers in the world, she began her career in 2009 when she played Creusa in Demofoonte by Antonio Caldara, conducted by Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Festival, the Opéra Garnier in Paris and the Ravenna Festival. In the following years she was also directed by Maestro Muti in Mercadante’s I due Figaro, Don Pasquale (Norina), Simon Boccanegra (Amelia) and Falstaff (Alice). At the beginning of 2015 you sang in Il viaggio a Reims (Corinna) at the National Opera in Amsterdam, directed by Damiano Michieletto and conducted by Stefano Montanari, an engagement that marked the beginning of a rapidly growing international career. In the same year she interpreted for the first time the roles of Liù (Turandot) and the Countess of Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro) and inaugurated the season of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples singing in Carmen (Micaëla) conducted by Zubin Mehta . From 2016 to today she has made her debut in roles that have since become distinctive in her repertoire such as: Mimì (La bohème) and Luisa Miller (protagonist) at the Liceu in Barcelona, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Elettra (Idomeneo ) at the Teatro Real in Madrid (work recorded on DVD and BD by Opus Arte). She is a regular guest of the most important theaters in the world, she has also performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera House of New York and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden of London.

Mikhail Petrenko, one of the most popular basses in the world, returns to the Maggio after the performances of Der Fliegende Holländer in January 2019, as Philip II. “What Maestro Gatti said when speaking of the work is truly perfect: Philip II – says Petrenko – lives with a veritable sea of loneliness within him. A useful lesson that my character can convey is precisely the ‘lesson’ that power can draw from him. With all the immense power that is in his hands, he affirms “With blood alone I could have the peace of the world”. Here, I think that this dramatic statement actually serves to mask the doubt and fear from which this character is afflicted. Fear and doubt that are opposed to love. And Filippo realizes this, humanly speaking, and this is what my character teaches in part: with blood you get little or nothing; it is love that can be the true vehicle of peace, even if it is only a question of personal peace”. After studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of Professor Minzhilkiev, he received awards such as diplomas at the 3rd Rimsky-Korsakov International Competition (1998) and the 1st Elena Obraztsova Competition; he was also a finalist and diploma winner at the Maria Callas Voci Nuove Competition in Parma (2000). Recently he performed the Symphony n. 14 by Shostakovich with the Orchester de la Suisse Romande conducted by Alexander Shelley and with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Rachmaninov’s The Bells with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Thomas Søndergård; Symphony No. 13 by Shostakovich with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, and Bluebeard’s Castle at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with Jaap van Zweden.

Roman Burdenko, in his absolute debut on the stage of the Maggio, plays Rodrigo, Marchese di Posa. Burdenko said he was very happy, not only for being in his first performance at the May, but also in doing so playing a role like that of Rodrigo: “I’m really happy to make my debut here at the May, in a year that has seen me debut on numerous Italian stages. Doing it by giving the voice to a character like Rodrigo pleases me very much, because he is one of the classic examples of the ‘Verdi baritone’ and moves within a narratively complex but beautiful work, which touches on important themes such as love, weight of power and pain; tied together with extreme elegance by the music of the great Verdi”. Nowadays among the most esteemed baritones, Roman Burdenko has won numerous prestigious singing competitions including the “Opera International Competition” in Moscow (1st Prize, 2011), “Concours de Chant Lyrique Long Thibaud-Crespin” in Paris (2nd Prize, 2011), “Operalia” by Plácido Domingo in Beijing (3rd Prize, 2012) and the “32nd Hans Gabor Belveder International Singing Competition” in Amsterdam (2nd Prize, 2013). Recently he has been the protagonist of numerous titles such as Cavalleria rusticana (Alfio) and Pagliacci (Tonio) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève; Prince Igor’ (protagonist) at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow; Stiffelio (Stankar) at the Bilbao Opera; The Maiden of Orléans (Dunois) in concert form again at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and A Masked Ball at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The role of Rodrigo will also be played by Massimo Cavalletti in the final performance on 8 January: he won the most important opera houses and international festivals, including: Metropolitan Opera in New York, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden of London, the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Zurich Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Moscow Bolshoi and the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. After his debut in Parisina in 2004 at the Donizetti Theater in Bergamo, he linked his name to that of the Teatro alla Scala and the Zurich Opera, taking part in productions such as The Barber of Seville (Figaro); Don Carlo (Marquis of Posa); La bohème (Schaunard and Marcello); Lucia di Lammermoor (Enrico); Simon Boccanegra (Paolo Albiani); Falstaff (Ford); Carmen (Escamillo); I masnadieri (Francesco); Il trovatore (The Count of Luna); L’elisir d’amore (Belcore) and Manon Lescaut (Lescaut). In 2007 he began a long collaboration with the Zurich Opera, where he sang in La bohème, La Juive, Le Cid, Lucia di Lammermoor and Carmen.

Ekaterina Semenchuck interprets Princess Eboli: one of the most appreciated and requested interpreters on the international scene, she made her debut on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater while studying at the “Rimsky-Korsakov” Conservatory in St. Petersburg and since then, she has performed in all the major theaters of the world. Her operatic roles include Azucena (Il Trovatore), Eboli (Don Carlo), Amneris (Aida), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) and Princess of Bouillon (Adriana Lecouvreur). In addition to Verdi’s repertoire, she sings Didon (Les Troyens), Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana), Marina (Boris Godunov) and Laura (La Gioconda).

During recent seasons she has performed at the Metropolitan in New York, the Opéra national de Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Salzburg Festival, the New National Theater in Tokyo, the San Francisco Opera, at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, at the Baden-Baden Festival and at the Teatro alla Scala. At Maggio she was recently among the protagonists of the symphonic concert conducted by Maestro Daniele Gatti on June 30, 2022 and of Il Trovatore, the inaugural work of the Autumn Festival directed by Zubin Mehta.

Alexander Vinogradov is The Grand Inquisitor: he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow when he was only twenty-one and later embarked on an intense international career that led him to perform on the stages of the world’s major theaters, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Metropolitan Opera in New York, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Opéra national in Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Staatsoper in Berlin, Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Staatsoper in Munich, Opernhaus in Zurich, Staatsoper in Vienna, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Teatro Real in Madrid, Semperoper in Dresden and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. He regularly collaborates with illustrious conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Myung-Whun Chung and Gustavo Dudamel, and is endowed with a solid repertoire which is articulated in numerous titles such as Roméo et Juliette (Frère Laurent); Lucia di Lammermoor (Raimondo) and Luisa Miller (Count Walter); Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro) and Evgenij Onegin (Gremin); Faust (Méphistophélès); Ernani (Silva; La bohème (Colline) and The Barber of Seville (Don Basilio).

Evgeny Stavinsky, who returns to Maggio after the recent performances of The Barber of Seville directed by Maestro Gatti is Un Monaco, Nikoletta Hertsak (in the first performances) and Aleksandra Meteleva (in the last two performances on 5 and 8 January) play Tebaldo ; Joseph Dahdah in the double role of Il Conte di Lerma/A royal herald and Benedetta Torre, protagonist in The Marriage of Figaro staged during the last 84th May Festival, returns interpreting A voice from heaven while a large ensemble of artists and former artists of the Accademia del Maggio interprets the Flemish deputies: Matteo Mancini, Volodymyr Morosov, Matteo Torcaso, Eduardo Martínez Flores, Davide Piva, William Hernandez, Lodovico Filippo Ravizza and Roman Lyulkin.

Thanks to Intesa Sanpaolo for the support
Thanks to Kuehne+Nagel for the support

Before each performance, the presentations to the public of the shows held by Katiuscia Manetta, Maddalena Bonechi and Marco Cosci continue: the guides are held in the Foyer of the Sala Zubin Mehta and in the Gallery Foyer of the Sala Grande about 45 minutes before the start of the show. For the performance on Sunday 8 January, at 3 pm, the “Crescendo: theater in play, play in the theater” initiative continues: adults watch the opera while children are welcomed into a large rehearsal room of the theater and are entertained by educators until the end of the performance with games, music and stories related to the work in the programme.

The opera:
Don Carlo, the Italian version of Don Carlos, is Verdi’s fourth and last opera on a Schillerian subject. The source of the libretto, written jointly by François-Joseph Méry and Camille Du Locle, was Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien, a tragedy in five acts by Friedrich Schiller inspired by historical events that occurred in Spain in the mid-sixteenth century. The clash between an oppressive political system and the aspiration for individual freedom, as well as the father-son contrast, which runs on the double track of the political and private spheres, fascinated Verdi who began the composition of the opera after the commission received from Opéra, where Don Carlos made his debut on March 11, 1867. Initially articulated in five acts, with balls and grandiose crowd scenes, in line with the spectacular needs of the temple of French opera, Don Carlos did not achieve the hoped-for success and the author, dissatisfied, he decided to put his hand back to it a few years later for a revival at the Teatro alla Scala on 10 January 1884. On that occasion Verdi reduced the acts from five to four – eliminating the entire first act with the exception of the protagonist’s aria “Io la vidi e her smile” – and cut the danceables. Italian critics, however, accused the work of ‘Wagnerism’ due to the importance assumed by the orchestra and the flexible and fluid writing adopted by Verdi in which the scansion between closed numbers is increasingly less clear.