The Queen of Spades

Opera in three acts, seven scenes

Libretto by Tchaikovsky and his brother Modest, based on Pushkin’s story

The opera was written in 1890. This version was first performed in Perm in 1997.

The impoverished officer Herman, obsessed by wealth, is in love with Liza, the granddaughter of an old countess who scintillated at the French court half a century ago. The countess once had an affair with Count St. Germain, who, in return for her favours, had divulged the secret of a winning combination of three cards at faro. Herman convinces himself that the countess’s secret will help him to get rich and win Liza. He becomes obsessed with the society anecdote; it leads to the death of the countess, Liza’s suicide, and eventually Herman’s madness and suicide. Tchaikovsky added a touch of melodrama to Pushkin’s story: in the original, Herman does not shoot himself, but is confined in a madhouse, and Liza marries another man.

Eighteenth-century St. Petersburg, where the action of the opera takes place, provides numerous opportunities for the creation of eye-catching scenery, and set designer Yury Kharikov has made full use of them.

Age category: 12+