Verdi, Giuseppe: Don Carlo

Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi
Cast: Placido Domingo, Delia Wallis, Monserrat Caballe, Ryland Davies, Simon Estes, Sherrill Milnes, Shirley Verrett, Ruggero Raimondi, Giovanni Foiani, John Noble and Maria-Rosa del Campo, with the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini.
Libretto by Josephe Mery and Camille du Locle (after Schiller)
Label: HMV Angel Series
Catalogue number: SLS 956
Country of Issue: UK
Date: 1971
Stereo
Analogue
Format: LP Boxed Set (4 discs plus booklet)
Label design:  Angel series yellow label, colour HMV logo
Discs: Near Mint, unmarked
Outer box: VG+/EX-      Front excellent,  back fine with some slight marks, shelf scuffs on bottom edge
Inner sleeves: original, polylined, slightly crumpled due to use but will flatten!
Booklet: full size 28pp, perfect. Full libretto and notes

This item appears in excellent condition throughout except as mentioned above. Acquired by us in 2007 as part of a large collection but never played since.

Verdi originally composed the opera in French for the Paris Opéra, setting a libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle based on Friedrich Schiller’s play Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien. The premiere took place in Paris in March 1867 under the French title Don Carlos.

For performances in Italy, the libretto was translated into Italian by Achille de Lauzières and Angelo Zanardini. In Italian, the prince's name is dropped of its final 's', becoming Don Carlo. 

For the first Italian production, the opera was shortened into 4 acts, omitting several sections of Act 1 and the Ballet);  however for a staging in Modena in 1886, the 5-act structure was restored though retaining revisionswhich Verdi had made to the music.  This recording is of that full 1886 version.