Name: Don Carlo (Italian version)
Start: 2023-03-05
End: 2023-03-05
Location: Slovene National Theatre

Organization

Set designer

Wolfgang von Zoubek

Lighting designer

Costume designer

Sandra Dekanić

Chorus master

Zsuzsa Budavari-Novak

Singer

Tenor

Dimitris Paksoglou

Don Carlo

Baritone

Domen Križaj

Rodrigo

Bass

Valentin Pivovarov

The Grand Inquisitor

Soprano

Rebeka Lokar

Elisabeth of Valois

Mezzo-soprano

Irena Petkova

Princess Eboli

Alfonz Kodrič

A Monk

Valentina Čuden

Thibault

Dušan Topolovec

The Count of Lerma

Bogdan Stopar

Royal Herald

Stage director

Marin Blažević

Conductor

Valentin Egel

Luciano Batinić

Philip II

Ljubomir Puškarić

Slavko Sekulić

Sebastijan Čelofiga

A Voice from Heaven

Silent

Cleopatra Purice

Countess of Aremberg

Opera and Ballet of Slovene National Theatre Maribor

Orchestra

Maribor Slovenian State Opera Orchestra

Others

Opera Choir of the Slovene National Theater Maribor

Ballet

Slovene National Ballet Maribor

Italian

Don Carlo (Italian version)

Maribor

Slovenia

Slovene National Theatre

Don Carlo Verdi

Public

Slovenian

Approved

An Italian grand opera in five acts

Libretto Joseph Méry, Camille du Locle (French libretto, Achille de Lauzières, Arrigo Boito (Italian libretto) First performance of the
opera March 11, 1867, Salle Le Peletier (Opéra de Paris)

When Giuseppe Verdi began to create the opera Don Carlos for the Paris Opera based on the French libretto by Joseph Méry and Camillo du Loclo , which was based on the motifs of the play Don Carlos, Infant von SpanienFriedrich Schiller from 1787, he has composed twenty-four operas on his successful international tour. It should be emphasized at the outset that Schiller used several sources in the creation of his drama, a good part of which are questionable or influenced by revisionist theories, speculations, rumors and mythomaniac and sensationalist tendencies towards scandals. Nevertheless, the unity between historical facts, drama and Verdi's grand opera (fr. grand opéra) can be seen in the fact that the marriage of the Spanish king Philip II was crucial for the political and cultural rapprochement of Spain and France. with the then teenage princess, Elizabeth de Valois, daughter of Queen Catherine de' Medici and Henry II. An insight into complex and often conflicting kinship relationships shows that Carlos, the title character of Schiller's play and Verdi's opera, son of the Spanish king Philip II. and his first wife, Maria of Portugal, who died of complications during childbirth just two days after Carlos was born. After Carlos was entrusted to the custody of Philip's sister, regent Juana Blazna, shortly after his birth, Philip II. married Elizabeth de Valois in 1560, with whom Carlos also became emotionally close.

Both Verdi's opera and Schiller's drama are fueled by a historical pre-context of mutually conflicting and competitive love relationships, moral duty as well as unrealized political ideals. In this sense, Verdi's great and at the same time "reimagined" or reimagined historical opera Don Carlo(s)- whether in the French or Italian version - appears as a complex dramatic panorama of human passions, woven between the six most prominent figures - Philip II, his son Don Carlo, Queen Elizabeth (Don Carlo's former fiancée, whom his father married), Princess Eboli , Rodrigo and the Grand Inquisitor. Verdi's ethos and sense of justice, which was generated by reading the fundamental philosophical and artistic works of the Enlightenment, including Schiller's plays, are thus during the composition of the opera Don Carlo(s)came to the fore, which is reflected in the composer's emphasis on human dignity, brotherhood and personal freedom. Verdi conveniently placed his artistic manifesto against absolutism - whether secular or ecclesiastical - in 16th-century Spain, during the time of the Church Inquisition, when the line between secular and ecclesiastical authority was anything but clear, and personal aspirations and intimate love desires were often suppressed or sacrificed for the "higher good".

In accordance with the psychologically constructed musical drama, it really cannot surprise us that, in addition to the powerful scenes, virtuoso and singingly demanding arias, Verdi also devoted a lot of creative energy to the music of spiritual nobility, such as we can admire, for example, in Rodrigo's aria Io morro, ma lieto in core . The end of the opera is also surprising, in which the intervention of a higher power is not lacking (in the sense of deus ex machina) - for example, the condemned Don Carlo is saved by none other than his grandfather, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was considered dead and takes the form of a monk. With this melodramatic allegory, Verdi wanted to confirm the existence of a loving force that, as a kind of spiritual guardian, watches over the lives of persons who, due to injustice or a series of unfortunate circumstances, were deprived of their freedom and even their lives. The masterful synthesis of words and music, which Verdi conceived for the "Italian music of the future", was thus embodied in a firmer fusion of melody, text and stage semantics, which raised the historical context of the opera Don Carlo to the level of timelessness and the metaphysics of the human condition as such.

English

Italijanska velika opera v petih dejanjih

Libreto Joseph Méry, Camille du Locle (francoski libreto, Achille de Lauzières, Arrigo Boito (italijanski libreto)
Praizvedba opere 11. marec 1867, Salle Le Peletier (Opéra de Paris)

Ko je začel Giuseppe Verdi po francoskem libretu Josepha Méryja in Camilla du Locla za pariško Opero ustvarjati opero Don Carlos, ki je nastala po motivih drame Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien Friedricha Schillerja iz leta 1787, je na svoji uspešni mednarodni poti nanizal že štiriindvajset oper. Že na začetku velja poudariti, da je Schiller pri snovanju svoje drame uporabil več virov, od katerih jih je dobršen del vprašljiv oziroma pod vplivom revizionističnih teorij, špekulacij, govoric ter mitomanskih in senzacionalističnih teženj k škandalom. Kljub temu pa se enotnost med zgodovinskimi dejstvi, dramo in Verdijevo véliko opero (fr. grand opéra) kaže v dejstvu, da je bila za politično in kulturno zbliževanje Španije in Francije ključna poroka španskega kralja Filipa II. s takrat najstniško princeso, Elizabeto de Valois, hčerko kraljice Katarine Medičejske in Henrika II. Vpogled v kompleksna in pogosto tudi konfliktna sorodstvena razmerja pokaže, da je Carlos, naslovni lik Schillerjeve drame in Verdijeve opere, sin španskega kralja Filipa II. in njegove prve žene, Marie Portugalske, ki je zaradi zapletov med porodom umrla le dva dni po Carlosovem rojstvu. Potem ko so Carlosa kmalu po rojstvu zaupali skrbništvu Filipove sestre, regentke Juane Blazne, se je Filip II. leta 1560 poročil z Elizabeto de Valois, s katero se je čustveno zbližal tudi Carlos.

Tako Verdijeva opera kot Schillerjeva drama se napajata iz zgodovinskega predkonteksta medsebojno konfliktnih in konkurenčnih ljubezenskih razmerij, moralne dolžnosti kakor tudi neuresničenih političnih idealov. V tem smislu se Verdijeva vélika in obenem tudi »na novo zamišljena« oziroma reimaginizirana zgodovinska opera Don Carlo(s) – bodisi v francoski ali italijanski različici – kaže kot kompleksna dramatična panorama človeških strasti, stkana med šestimi najvidnejšimi osebami – Filipom II., njegovim sinom Don Carlom, kraljico Elizabeto (nekdanjo Don Carlovo zaročenko, s katero se je poročil njegov oče), princeso Eboli, Rodrigom in Velikim inkvizitorjem. Verdijev etos ter občutek za pravičnost, ki ga je porajalo prebiranje temeljnih filozofskih in umetniških del razsvetljenstva, med drugim tudi Schillerjeve drame, sta tako med komponiranjem opere Don Carlo(s) prišla še posebej do izraza, kar se odraža v skladateljevem poudarjanju človeškega dostojanstva, bratstva in osebne svobode. Svoj umetniški manifest proti absolutizmu – bodisi posvetnemu ali cerkvenemu – je tako Verdi prikladno umestil v Španijo 16. stoletja, v čas cerkvene inkvizicije, ko je bila meja med posvetno in cerkveno oblastjo vse prej kot jasna, osebnostne težnje in intimne ljubezenske želje pa velikokrat potlačene ali žrtvovane za »višje dobro«.

V skladu s psihološko izdelano glasbeno dramo nas v resnici ne more presenetiti, da je poleg mogočnih prizorov, virtuoznih in pevsko zahtevnih arij Verdi veliko ustvarjalne energije posvetil tudi uglasbitvi duhovne plemenitosti, kakršno lahko denimo občudujemo v Rodrigovi ariji Io morro, ma lieto in core. Presenetljiv je tudi konec opere, v katerem ne manjka posredovanje višje sile (v smislu deus ex machina) – na smrt obsojenega Don Carla tako denimo reši nihče drug kot njegov dedek, svetorimski cesar Karl V., ki je veljal za mrtvega in zavzame podobo meniha. Verdi je s to melodramatično alegorijo želel potrditi obstoj ljubeče sile, ki kot nekakšen duhovni zavetnik bdi nad življenji oseb, ki so bili po krivici ali spletu nesrečnih okoliščin prikrajšani za svobodo in celo za svoje življenje. Izmojstrena sinteza besede in glasbe, ki jo je Verdi koncipiral za »italijansko glasbo prihodnosti«, se je tako utelesila v čvrstejši zlitosti melodike, besedila in odrske semantike, ki je zgodovinski kontekst opere Don Carlo povzdignila na raven brezčasnosti in metafizike stanja človeka kot takega.

slovenščina

Don Carlo (Italian version) by Verdi, Sun 05 Mar 2023, From (2023/2023), Directed by Marin Blažević,, Conductor Valentin Egel, Slovene National Theatre, Maribor, Slovenia

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