The Queen of Spades

By Pi. I. Tchaikovsky

The National Opera of Paris Vladimir Jurovski, conductor
Performers listed below

Gambling has gotten a lot of people in a whole lot of trouble. It’s become pervasive in almost every culture, and entire organizations have been created to deal with its consequences. You hear about gambling in popular tunes; Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" comes to mind (and it has a featured role in this week's WORLD OF OPERA, as well). You see gambling at the movies, and in the theater. You find betting lines in your newspaper's sports pages. There are lottery machines at your local gas station and convenience store. And of course, you'll also find gambling at the opera.

Generally, everyone gambles for the same reason: to win money. But in operas, a lot of guys seem to gamble for a more specific reason: to get the girl, or to get her back from someone with more money. You’ve heard it in LA TRAVIATA, and in two different versions of MANON. Of course these attempts generally fare poorly. In those operas, the coveted women all end up dead. But few operatic gamblers have gone to more extreme ends, or suffered more extreme consequences, than Herman - the unfortunate hero of this week's opera - Tchaikovsky’s THE QUEEN OF SPADES.

Tchaikovsky's opera is based on a rather bleak short story by Pushkin. Its main character, Herman, is a man what might chartitably be described as a dysfunctional soul. When this lonely fellow finally has a chance for real love and companionship, he exploits the opportunity in a way that's obsessively greedy, selfish, and even brutal. As a result, he loses his chance to be happy, and causes grief and death in the process. In short, Pushkin's Herman isn't exactly a barrel of laughs - and Tchaikovsky's version of the story leaves him pretty much in the same boat.

In the opera, Herman is allowed to fall in love - but the love becomes tangled up with his obsessive greed. And the opera's result may be even more tragic: Herman's chance for truly meaningful love makes his obsession all the more irrational, and unnecessary.

Now, all that said, we don't want to leave you with the impression that this opera is all "gloom and doom." It also has a comic "play within a play," and cheerful tune or two. Then again, the plain truth is, there's not much sweetness and light going on in this one. But there's plenty of spectacular and beautiful music - it is Tchaikovsky, after all. Besides, if you like opera, you probably enjoy being moved to tears! So tune in when host Steve Curwood brings you THE QUEEN OF SPADES, presented at the Bastille by the National Opera of Paris, this week on NPR WORLD OF OPERA.

Also, don't forget to tune in NPR's AT THE OPERA for more insights into this Tchaikovsky opera.



Performers:
Vladimir Galouzine (Herman); Karita Mattila (Lisa); Helga Dernesch (Countess); Vassili Gerello (Tomski), Simon Keenlyside (Eletski), Vsevolod Grivnov (Tchekalinski)


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