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Tchaikovsky´s Queen of Spades: Oslo Opera House

About the Event

Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades is about obsession. The opera is a thriller about compulsive gambling. It is a story about what happens when you become so obsessed with a thing that you lose it: money, love, sanity itself. The music takes us to Russian ballrooms – but also shows us desire, deception and the darkest facets of humanity. In the flickering light of a candelabra we are presented with an intense and passionate drama.
The decisive three cards

We find ourselves in St. Petersburg at the end of the 1700s. Herman has fallen for a young woman he has seen. He is an outsider, unable to find his place in society. Lisa is granddaughter to a Duchess and engaged to a prince. Despite her being far above his station, Hermann finds hope when he discovers that Lisa’s grandmother was, in her youth, a masterful card player. The duchess knew that with three specific cards – a three, a seven and an ace – she would win. She tells this secret to two men. But it was presaged that if she were to tell the secret a third time, terrible fates would fall. Herman’s obsession shifts from Lisa, to the three cards.
Two masters meet

«Two fixed ideas cannot exist in the brain at the same time», wrote the famous Russian author Alexander Pushkin, in his novel from 1833 upon which this opera is based. In 1887, Tchaikovsky’s brother Modest wrote about this in a textbook, which was due to become a ballet with music by Nikolay Klenowsky. When Klenowsky did nothing with the material, the head of the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg encouraged Tchaikovsky to use it. He was by then already established as an important composer, with nine operas to his credit.

The Queen of Spades premièred in 1890 and was to be Tchaikovsky’s penultimate opera, but also his personal favourite. Here he demonstrates how he can juggle a range of musical styles, from a play on 1700’s rococo to large impressionistic choral movements. The music shifts seamlessly between the diverse sides of Hermann’s split soul.

Cast / Production

Music Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Libretto Modest Tchaikovsky
Conductors Lothar Koenigs, Jørn Fossheim (25/9) Director Arnaud Bernard
Set designer Alessandro Camera
Assistant set design Andrea Gregori
Choreographer Gianni Santucci
Costume designer Carla Ricotti
Lighting designer Patrick Méeüs

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