Don Carlos

Friedrich Schiller's "dramatic poem" 'Don Karlos, Infante of Spain' has an unusually long time of origin and a complicated history of creation. The first drafts date back to 1783, the last changes extend to 1805, and the drama was first published and premiered in Blankversen in 1787 - in Schiller's work it marks the transition from Sturmund-Drang drama to classical music. Trust and betrayal are the leitmotifs of this courtly intrigue, which Schiller has turned into a political criminal case. The friendship between the Crown Prince Don Karlos and the Knight of Malta Marquis Posa and their longing for political and personal freedom in the world empire of Spain in the mid-16th century fails because of the lust for power of their opponents, who themselves are only puppets of an all-powerful Inquisition.

Text in new spelling.