Pikovaya Dama (The Queen of Spades)
Pikovaya Dama (The Queen of Spades) by Piotr I. Tchaikovsky, was commissioned by the Russian Imperial Theatres and enthusiastically received on its first performance at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg in 1890. It is one of several great Russian operas based on the works of Pushkin. However the author of the libretto, Modest Tchaikovsky, the composer's brother and close collaborator, made changes in order to adapt the work to the needs of French grand opéra. The action moves to the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine the Great, and features scenes of the city and imperial court of Saint Petersburg. But above all the leading character Hermann - a cynical, monochromatic German in Pushkin's version - acquires greater complexity under the influence of other figures of Russian literature, notably from the works of Dostoyevsky.
Hermann, a young soldier without a fortune and a compulsive gambler, falls in love with Lisa, the grand-daughter of an influential noblewoman from Moscow, the old Countess. Rumour has it that when the Countess was young and beautiful, she met a famous alchemist, the Count of Saint-Germain, in Paris, learnt from him the "secret of the three cards" in exchange for a night of love, and used it to win back her great fortune. She later disclosed it to her husband and a young lover, but was warned in a dream that when a third man tried to wrest it from her she would die. Hermann is mesmerized by the tale. He succeeds in conquering Lisa, thus gaining access to the Countess's chambers, and threatens the Countess to make her give up the secret with the result that she dies of fright. But her ghost reveals the three magical cards that will enable him to win: the three, the seven and the ace. Lisa is so horrified at her lover's actions that she commits suicide, while Hermann rushes off to gamble on the secret combination. He wins with his first two cards and, intoxicated by his luck, proclaims his nihilistic outlook: life, he says, is a mere game and only death is real. Then he plays against Prince Yeletski, Lisa's former fiancé. Instead of an ace, Hermann's third card turns out to be the queen of spades, the counterfigure of the Countess, and he is ruined. Her ghost returns to mock him and he takes his own life in despair.
Tchaikovsky's brilliant score, which includes interesting references to 18th century music and Russian popular and religious music, serves the tragedy very effectively.
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