Acacia Bloom Right! And she would have been even better if she had sung the French version of this opera.

Why was it performed in four acts instead of the original five-act version?

@@eduardobraivein8496 It could have come down to the company's budget for the year. The five act version sends all union employees into overtime for the run of the opera. Perhaps, given the overall budget for the season and the other operas being performed, they decided to do the four act version? Who knows? Maybe a conductor/artistic administrator stipulated the four act version?

This scene between Elisabetta & Eboli was in the original French version of the opera. It opened Act III. of the French version (Act I. being the Fontainebleu scene which preceded what is often now known as the four-act Italian version - basically the version on this live recording). In the original French version Act III. opened with the ceremonies supposedly before Philip's coronation. Elisabetta, the Queen, is tired and wishes to retire to pray for the coronation on the following day. She asks Eboli to take her place at that evening's festivities and they exchange masks. The Queen leaves and Eboli exults that she will be Queen for the night. There then followed the ballet (obligatory in all French operas). After this we return to the rest of the second act (in the four-act Italian version) or the third act (in the full five-act French version and the often now extended five-act Italian version which includes the opening Fontainebleu act). Carlos enters the garden for what he thinks is his assignation with the Queen. The note he has received is from Eboli, who mistakenly thinks he is in love with her. He, of course, still loves Elisabetta, to whom he was engaged in the Fontainebleu act, but then his father Philip married Elisabetta instead. Since Eboli is now wearing Elisabetta's mask and costume, Carlos quite understandably mistakes her for the Queen, until she unmasks or removes her veil and he realises it is Eboli. Thus the scene where Elisabetta and Eboli exchange masks (at least) is vital in explaining how Carlos comes to mistake Eboli for the Queen. Without this scene his ensuing error seems to lack realism and even a certain credibility. In view of this (and the not unattractive music of the Elisabetta/Eboli scene) it has been re-instated in some relatively modern performances of the opera, ever since interest was regenerated in the original French version of the opera during the latter part of the 20th century. Sadly the ballet from the opera, which follows the scene in question, is very seldom performed. This is a great loss because the music is wonderful and the ballet tells the story of the famous pearl La Peregrina, once owned by Philip II. of Spain. One final interesting point, especially concerning this particular performance. When Verdi reformed his very long French opera (Don Carlos), composed first, into the subsequent Italian version (Don Carlo), he naturally had to shorten it considerably for the less patient Italians, who were prone to leave the opera house at a certain time (to catch, it is said, the last buses and trains home), whether or not the opera had actually finished. In the cuts that Verdi had to make, the ballet went and then so did the scene between Elisabetta and Eboli which preceded it, where they exchange masks. This seemed now pointless without the ballet, but it was forgotten that the exchange of masks very deftly explained the later confusion over identities by Carlos. To replace the lost Elisabetta/Eboli scene, and to introduce the garden scene of Act II. or Act III. (depending upon the version in question), Verdi composed the Prelude which is more familiar to us. What is very strange in this performance is that following the Elisabetta/Eboli scene we then hear the full Prelude; the latter having meant to replace the former. In all the years of listening to this opera and collecting recordings of it, I have never come across this inclusion of both options before. The Elisabetta/Eboli is actually faded out on this recording, before the Prelude starts. After Eboli's solo (in which we very cleverly hear orchestral echoes of her earlier Veil Song) there is sometimes a shorter reprise of the offstage chorus which opens the scene. Undoubtedly it is Kiri Te Kanawa singing the Queen in this scene, so it is clearly from this performance, and I don't understand the need to fade out the last bar or two. There were other sad and beautiful losses from the French version of the opera when the Italian version was created, including a long choral introduction to the opening Fontainebleu act and a short but effective duet for Elisabetta and Eboli before the latter's big aria O don fatale. Also a duet in the ensuing prison scene between Carlos and his father Philip, with choral passages leading back into the more familiar finale to the scene. This meant that the dead Posa had to remain prone onstage for a lot longer. In the French version the opera had a slightly different ending to the final act, as well. Anyway, that is just additional possibly interesting information, but hopefully this terribly long explanation has answered the query about the 'extra thing after the end of the first act'.

Yes, your answer more than covers my question. Thank you very much. After I heard this, I did some searching on the internet and found the libretto that contains this scene...Among the scenes of the french version which were omitted later is the ensemble in the scene of the prison, whose melody Verdi used later for his Requiem (Lacrymosa)...Don Carlo is among my most favorite operas...A really wonderful work from every aspect.

Well done with the research. I almost said about the melody Verdi later used in his Requiem, but I thought I had already gone on long enough! These days there are a few reasonably good recordings of the full original French version of Don Carlos, including all the music which was later cut, plus the excellent ballet. I never tire of listening to the various versions of this masterpiece. The historical setting is also a favourite period of mine, which makes the whole thing perfection .... if not exactly historically correct; but then few historical operas have accurate plots. It all adds to the drama, which in turn produces great music, such as this.

Also the finale of the Italian version is magnificent....I am never tired of listening to it countless times...this crescendo that ends to the high B of Elisabetta "O ciel"...Don Carlo is really one of the highlights of the mature period of Verdi

There is a performance in which Montserrat Caballé as Elisabetta holds on to that high B right through the final bars of the orchestra to the very end of the opera. I think it was New York (Met) 1972, but she did it elsewhere too (Barcelona in 1971). Easy enough to find on You Tube.