Opera’s other Don

When the Royal Opera’s Music Director Antonio Pappano contributed to our 2013 ‘Maestros and Masterworks’ feature, I was not a little surprised and delighted when he elected to talk about what was my own favourite opera, Verdi’s Don Carlos. Since then, several other professionals have waxed lyrical, revealing the same ‘desert island’ opera of choice – not Butterfly, not Figaro, but a somewhat off the beaten track lengthy French Grand opera that all but disappeared from the repertoire during the first half of the 20th century. So what makes the buffs plump for Don Carlos over Don Giovanni? This year, Opera Australia has decided to revisit Elijah Moshinsky’s 1999 staging as the centrepiece of its 2015 program. What better excuse to take a history lesson and explore the complex genesis of a lyric masterwork that is far more than just the opera lover’s opera?

Born in 1545, Carlos of the Asturias was son and heir to King Philip II of Spain. Hapsburg inbreeding may have contributed to the young man’s unfortunate hunchback and his high-pitched voice,...