Today Don Carlos is performed in French as often as it is in Italian. Different productions and recordings vary considerably, however, as regards the choice of scenes and music. The extent of the original material is such that directors, dramaturgists and conductors tend to stage the work in a highly individualistic manner. People sometimes speak of a French and an “Italian” version of Don Carlos, but there is no “Italian” version, merely an Italian translation, for Verdi composed almost all the music on the basis of a libretto in French. The version here, sung in Italian, largely conforms to the Modena version of 1886 with the addition of certain important components of the 1867 Paris version.