Liberty Fund’s Online Library of Liberty has given me a chance to turn my love of classical music into paid work. My third article on an operatic subject is now up on the site, discussing Verdi’s Don Carlo. This piece also let me put my study of the 16th century to good use. In fact, the opera’s strange ending makes more sense if you assume intervention by my Magic Battery mages, as in “Snares of Satan.” How else could Charles V have rescued the protagonist ten years after his death?

But seriously, the opera gets into themes of religious oppression and liberty, which were very important to Verdi. It deals with the rebellions in the Spanish-held Low Countries, fueled by the Protestant Reformation. The Grand Inquisitor is creepy, and the auto-da-fé scene is spectacular. I enjoyed the chance to watch the opera again online and write about it.

These are my previous opera articles on the same site:

• The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
• Fidelio (Beethoven)

Here’s my author page, now with links to my articles.