| IN 1958, to celebrate the centenary of the present building, the Covent Garden Opera mounted a production of Verdi’s Don Carlo, then neglected. Directed by Visconti, conducted by Giulini, and with a splendid cast including Vickers, Christoff, and Gobbi, it stayed in the repertory for more than 30 years.
Now the Royal Opera has, so to speak, celebrated that celebration with a new production of Verdi’s masterpiece — no longer neglected, and also enjoying a parallel existence in its original French version as Don Carlos. Directed by Nicholas Hytner, it should last easily as long as its predecessor.
Most of the action takes place in Spain, and Bob Crowley’s sets and costumes brilliantly convey the stifling atmosphere of the Habsburg court. The first and last of the Spanish scenes are dominated by the enormous tomb of Charles V, his name picked out in gold. A screen punctured by rows of small squares suggests that every action is observed. There are black dresses, red fans.
The personal drama concerns Don Carlos’s obsession with Elizabeth, the French princess to whom he was betrothed but who was married off, for reasons of state, to his father, Philip II. Looming over all is the power of the Church, and the Inquisition’s hostility to the efforts of Posa, Carlos’s friend, to obtain justice for the Protestants in Flanders. Rolando Villazón and Simon Keenlyside, both in glorious voice, made this unlikely friendship almost believable.
The Elizabeth, a last-minute substitute on 26 June, was outsung by Sonia Ganassi’s scheming Princess Eboli. A major disappointment — though the audience loved him — was Ferruccio Furlanetto, who bellowed his way through the part of Philip II. Eric Halfvarson was a terrifying Inquisitor, and the veteran Robert Lloyd, himself a former Philip, made a powerful, up-front Monk.
Hytner’s production was full of nice touches — Carlos’s portrait became a leitmotif, for example — and his solution to the problematic ending was perfect. In the pit, Antonio Pappano worked magic. Bravi!
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