| Queen of Spades |
| The opera�s libretto, written by Modeste Tchaikovsky with the partial assistance of the composer himself, is based on a short story by Pushkin, but its spirit is far removed from its literary source. Pushkin�s tale is set in the author�s own period, in the 1820s, more than a generation past the operatic setting. Unlike the Tchaikovsky brothers, who intensely involved themselves in the troubled lives of their characters -- the obsessive gambler Herman and the trusting Lisa, who becomes the victim of that obsession -- Pushkin views their relationship with a dispassionate detachment; he is an observer at a philosophical distance from the strange doings of society. In contrast with the brevity of the novel, the opera delves deeper into the main characters. For example, the aged Countess, on retiring for the night, recalls her youth at the glamorous French court of Louis XV, where she was known as the �Muscovite Venus� (... Pushkin�s phrase) ...
Tchaikovsky endured more than his share of criticism from his contemporaries for having dared to depart in many telling details from Pushkin�s classic, but it was those very departures that lent Pushkin�s slender and sardonic tale the Romantic quality needed for an opera. Actually, those carping critics should have praised Tchaikovsky for paying a lavish tribute to the fabled Empress, who, aside from turning Russia into a major European power, enriched her nation�s cultural -- and, certainly, musical -- life.. (source) |
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| Roles Hermann tenor Count Tomsky baritone Prince Yeletsky baritone Chekalinsky tenor Surin bass Chaplitsky bass Narumov bass Master of Ceremonies tenor Countess mezzo-soprano Liza soprano Polina contralto Governess mezzo-soprano Masha soprano Boy-Commander spoken Prilepa soprano Milovzor contralto Zlatogor baritone Chorus, silent roles: Nursemaids, governesses, wet-nurses, strollers, children, gamblers |