The Queen of Spades

I

Scene 1

Saint Petersburg. Strolling in the Summer Garden, Surin tells Chekalinsky about the previous night’s card game. As usual, their friend Нerman spends nights by the gambling table, gloomily following the game, but not taking part in it.

Herman appears, accompanied by Count Tomsky. Herman admits that he is passionately in love, but name of his chosen one is yet unknown to him. Prince Yeletsky, who has joined the company of officers, announces that he is soon to get married. When the Countess passes by, accompanied by her granddaughter Liza, Herman is horrified to realize that he is in love with the prince’s bride.

Tomsky tells his friends a story. It is believed that in her youth, the Countess once lost all her fortune at the gambling table in Paris. At the cost of one rendezvous, she learned from Count de Saint Germain the fatal secret of three cards that helped the ‘Moscow Venus’ win back her money. The Countess was then foretold that she would die at the hands of a man who, “impelled by despair,” would come to demand that secret from her.

The Summer Garden empties, a storm is about to break. Herman swears that Liza will belong to him.

Scene 2

It’s getting late. Some girlfriends try to cheer up the saddened Liza. Left alone, Liza confides her innermost secret in the night: she loves Herman.

Herman appears. He declares his love to Liza. They are interrupted by a loud knocking on the door. The Countess enters the room. Having managed to hide, Herman suddenly remembers the legend of three cards. The Countess leaves, and Herman’s impetuous declaration ends with Liza’s return confession.

II

Scene 3

A ball given by a rich dignitary. Yeletsky, alarmed by Liza’s distancing, assures her of his love. The entreaties of her fiancé to whom she is indifferent, leave her cold.

Liza gives Herman the key to a secret door into the Countess’ house: they must see each other. The way to Liza’s room lies through the old woman’s bedroom. It seems to Herman that fate itself is helping him to find out the three winning cards.

Scene 4

The Countess’ bedroom. Here everything is reminiscent of her distant youth. Possessed by the wish to find out the secret of the three cards, Herman decides to make the Countess reveal it to him.

On her return from the ball, the Countess, having dismissed her maids and hangers on, recalls her youth.

Herman asks her to reveal the secret to him. The Countess, speechless with fear, is motionless. The enraged Herman threatens her with a pistol, and the old woman falls dead.

Hearing the noise, Liza runs into the bedroom. Seeing the dead Countess, she exclaims in despair: “It wasn’t me you were after, it was the cards!”

III

Scene 5

A room in the barracks. Herman is reading Liza’s letter, in which she asks him to meet her on the embankment.

Herman’s imagination is haunted with the images of the Countess’ funeral. In his delirium, against a background of the wailing wind and raging snowstorm outside, he sees the old woman’s ghost. She orders Herman to marry Liza and names three winning cards — a three, a seven, and an ace…

Scene 6

Liza is waiting for Herman on the embankment near the Winter Canal. When the clock strikes midnight and Liza finally loses hope, Herman appears, at first repeating words of love, but already possessed by another thought. Seized by madness, he runs away to a gambling house. Liza, driven to despair, throws herself into the water.

Scene 7

At the gambling house, the game is in full swing. In the midst of the evening, Herman appears. He puts all his money on the three, the card named by the ghost, and wins. He doubles his stake. The second card, the seven, also brings him luck.

Herman challenges everyone around him to play again. Yeletsky accepts Herman’s challenge. But Herman’s third card turns out to be the Queen of Spades, not the sure-fire ace. His game is up. Herman sees the ghost of the Countess. In madness, he shoots himself.