Opera in NYC: The Queen of Spades at The MetOpera

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s opera about the vices of gambling and greed is performed at The MetOpera by the impressive international cast

Mysterious and alluring, the Imperial Russia of Catherine the Great’s time takes the stage of the Met Opera this December. The critics call The Quees of Spades, a masterpiece created by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the highlight of the season so far. The splendid and imperially rich set and costume design by Mark Thompson recreates the times of extreme fashion, endless balls, and futile gambling and drinking nights. Premiered in 1995, Elijah Moshinsky’s production of The Queen of Spades is also memorable to the opera fans for Dmitriy Hvorostovky’s debut at the Met Opera.

This year’s production features a superb cast of international stars with a radiant soprano Lise Davidsen as Lisa, an expressive tenor Yusif Eyoavazov as Hermann, impeccable baritones Igor Golovanenko and Aleksey Markov as  Tomsk and Yeletsky, and a moody mezzo-soprano Larisa Diadkova as the countess. The conductor Vasily Petrenko makes his debut on the Met stage and takes full control of the splendid music score, leading the musicians in perfect alignment with the singing and acting.

Davidsen’s stormy entry into the opera world can only be fully appreciated when her powerful performance is observed on stage. With an understatement so suitable for Lisa, a young Russian lady of modest means, Davidsen uses her vocal strength to deliver the angst and desperation because of her lover’s betrayal in the name of material possessions. The colorful and exquisitely designed chorus scenes contrast with the gloomy mood and greedy aspirations of the high society. But the gorgeous music and the impressive signing save the day to the elation of the audience.

The opera is sung in Russian with subtitles; run time 3 hours and 35 minutes with one intermission. Performances are from December 5 – 21, 2019. 

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Following the success of music for ballets, Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky at first wasn’t interested in composing an opera and certainly not the one set to a rather bleak story of a compulsive gambler who ends up at the mental institution. It was Tchaikovsky’s brother Modest, who in 1889 had embraced the idea and convinced Pyotr to take on the task of writing the score with the soloists of the Mariinsky Theater in mind. The plot of the libretto, which was written by Modest with Piotr making his substantial add-ons, is drastically different from Pushkin’s short story.

Shifting the action from the end of 19th century to the time of Catherine the Great at the end of 18th century, the narrative gets a mysterious perspective which allows for the supernatural elements and other theatrical effects. In the opera, the love story between Lisa and Hermann is a well established fact when in Pushkin’s original version Hermann only uses Lisa to get close to the old countess. The countess is the one who tempts and excites the greedy engineer in his search for a secure and comfortable living for himself. With the stage and the audience in mind, the opera version puts in dramatic effects with the main characters taking their own lives when unable to bear the guilt and the ruin of their dreams. This stands in contrast with the original story which recognizes the virtue in Lisa’s case by finding a suitable party for her and punishing the vice by confining Hermann to the mental institution where he endlessly mutters “three, seven, ace” all day long.

However, the majestic music score created by Tchaikovsky makes this opera a genuine masterpiece. Tchaikovsky left Saint-Petersburg in the spring of 1889 and ended up in Florence where he completed the score by the end of June. In his letters, he described his state of mind as full of “passion and desire to create”. According to the musicologists and biographers, Tchaikovsky felt deeply Hermann’s otherness as a descendant of German parents in Hermann’s case and his homosexuality.

The music of the Queen of Spades contains numerous references to the 18th-century music. The eerie three-note theme in Hermann’s aria seems to refer to the combination of the three winning cards that lays at the heart of the plot. Tchaikovsky in his letters to friends described how strongly he was touched by Hermann’s death who was within reach of a lifetime gamble. The opera premiered in in St. Petersburg in 1890 and from that year became a staple of operatic repertoire.

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Lise Davidsen, a young Norwegian soprano who only 10 years ago started singing operas, makes the highly anticipated Met Opera debut with the role of Lisa, an innocent soul who is used by the protagonist in his obsession with the gambling secret known only to the old countess. Davidsen clearly dominates with her crisp and full-bodied voice. She is already signed up by the Met to appear in several major soprano roles in the next three seasons. She will sing Leonore in “Fidelio,” Chrysothemis in “Elektra,” Ariadne in “Ariadne auf Naxos,” Eva in “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” and the Marschallin in “Der Rosenkavalier.

 

Delight yourself with the thrilling operatic spectacle at the Met this December!

 

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Dates: December 5, 8, 14, 18, 21 

Venue: Met Opera, Lincoln Center, NY