About the work
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's three-act opera, based on Alexander Pushkin's novella, was premiered in 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre Saint Petersburg. The libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky transforms Pushkin's sardonic tale of gambling obsession into a grand Romantic tragedy with elements of ghost story, psychological drama, and eighteenth-century historical pageant. The work is the second of Tchaikovsky's operas after Eugene Onegin to enter the international repertoire.
Plot
In 1790s Saint Petersburg, the young officer Hermann becomes obsessed with the old Countess Lisaveta—who is rumoured to possess a secret formula for winning at cards. Hermann courts the Countess's granddaughter Liza to gain access to her grandmother. When he confronts the old Countess at night demanding the formula, she dies of shock. Her ghost visits Hermann and reveals the three winning cards: three, seven, ace. Hermann bets fortunes on three and seven with ecstatic success. At the climactic game, Hermann plays the ace—and draws the Queen of Spades. Liza has already drowned herself. Hermann stabs himself and dies.
Cultural significance
Pique Dame is Tchaikovsky's most psychologically dark opera and contains some of his finest music, including the Countess's French chanson (quoted from Grétry's Richard Cœur-de-Lion), Liza's aria by the canal, and Hermann's delirious visions. The role of Hermann is one of the most fearsome dramatic tenor parts—Placido Domingo and Plácido Domingo jr. both sang it late in their careers. Productions by Yuri Temirkanov, Valery Gergiev, and Graham Vick have emphasised the opera's ghostly atmosphere and its uniquely Russian fusion of psychology and fate.