Dreamlike things take place for the Spanish Infante Don Carlos: In the forest of Fontainebleau he meets the French princess Elisabeth, his future bride. But reality relentlessly catches up with him. For reasons of state, his father, King Philip II, has broken off the engagement and taken the princess himself as his wife. It breaks the young man's heart that his beloved must now meet him as a stepmother. With Carlos's childhood friend Rodrigo, new, enlightened thoughts are wafting through the walls of the court, which is entrenched in old structures and strict beliefs. But the vision of a freer world fails because of the cruelty of the all-dominant Inquisition.
Elisabeth Stöppler's production of the five-act Italian version captures the complexity of the characters from history, Schiller's poetry and Verdi's musical drama. The impressive soul spaces created by Hermann Feuchter make the vibrancy of the French countryside as palpable as the coldness of the Spanish court.
Text source and further information about this event: http://www.staatstheater-mainz.com/web/veranstaltungen/oper18-19/doncarlo
