The Queen of Spades

Pushkin's "Queen of Spades," one of the poetic genius's stabs at short story writing, was immortalized by another Russian genius, PСtr Tchaikovsky. Although outwardly having little to do with the poet's original story, this opera succeeded in conveying Pushkin's unique dramatic concept.

A friend of mine decided to cook up Herman, claiming there are a chosen few in Kyiv knowing the recipe and that this recipe had been known in Kyiv for some years. It seems that Herman cake brings happiness. You are given some yeast, keep it for about ten days while Herman takes a good look around, getting accustomed to the new environs, and then moves on to a new home. Three quarters of the yeast is to be shared with other good people and the fourth used for the cake. If you break rather than cut the cake and keep it at home, luck is sure to come your way within twenty years. And then it will be lucky for someone else.

For some reason this cake story reminded me of "The Queen of Spades." What is in that leaven if not Herman's soul? Just like the hero of the story and opera, he has no home of his own. He wanders across the world, trying to atone for his sins by bringing happiness to others. In Slavic mythology cards were always played by evil spirits. So if there is anything to counterpoise playing cards, it is a loaf with a fragrant crust as part of the Eucharist.

Herman cake did not appear in Kyiv by chance. In its own special way this ancient city combines the German antichrist, St. Petersburg, and Orthodox Russian Mother, Moscow. We have ghosts in Kyiv (for example, that House of Chimeras) and sacred temples. Thus, to atone his sins the Herman ghosts could not have chosen a better place, the more so that Herman visited Kyiv in one of his previous incarnations. But first things first.

Herman Hermann had his origins in the Germans used as main characters of Russian folk burlesque in the early nineteenth century. His ancestors were portrayed on cheap popular prints as most unattractive characters, in comic situations; humorous songs were composed about them and they were often the main characters of Petrushka marketplace puppet shows. Pushkin gave Herman's surname a double "n," perhaps in honor of his own dark-skinned grandfather, immortalized in verse as "The Moor of Peter the Great." In Pushkin's story Mr. Hermann is a composite character, embodying Russian folk stereotypes of Germans. Herman is an engineer, "just thrifty, that's all," with a Napoleonic profile and Mephistophelean soul (Mephistopheles is always a foreigner in Russian literature). It should be noted that Pushkin does not describe his hero's lifestyle; he dines at inns and thinks in the street; he is accustomed to cold winds and wet snow.

Tchaikovsky dropped the last "n" from the Russified German's surname and made him a nineteenth century Russian, always in action. Tchaikovsky's Herman contains everything inherent in Russia's gentry of the period: its cultivated seriousness, aspiration for a unity of style in one's conduct, and aesthetic of life verbalization. He does not get his friends' jokes. A ballad about the mystery of three cards and then being teased during a ball turns for him into a call of fate. The operatic role of Herman is marked by remarkable stylistic homogeneity. It is the only character that has no quotations, verbal as well as musical. Finally, Herman's action in the opera are crowned by the Word, summarizing, evaluating, and revealing its symbolic meaning. In the final seventh episode Herman sings his aria "What is Our Life? A Game," in essence stating his creed.

Working on the opera, PСtr Tchaikovsky became so engrossed in his hero that he burst into tears when Herman died. For the composer it was an autobiographical image. In Herman's "German nature" he saw his own status in culture at the time. Just like the Russified German, Tchaikovsky was an alien in his society. Contemporaries considered his music "German," while critics abroad said there was nothing German about him regarding him as a most spectacular representative of Russian culture.

It premiered in Kyiv on December 29, 1890, twelve days after it first opened in St. Petersburg. The city had anxiously anticipated the event and made most meticulous arrangements. The press reported that the composer would be on hand for the premiere. The vocal score, stage scenery, medley, and libretto were on sale at Izdkykovsky's music shop. A gala symphony concert of the Russian Music Society, dedicated to Tchaikovsky, included numbers from The Queen of Spades, then still unknown to the public.

In Kyiv, the opera was staged by Priashnykov's private company. Tchaikovsky attended all the rehearsals. "It is hard to describe my feelings, being again present at the making of the opera onstage, considering that this stage is comparatively small and the company is not exactly prosperous," he wrote to his brother Modest. "Yet everyone does his best and, I think that the rendition will be excellent in its own way."

The composer was satisfied with the premiere. He presented a copy of the vocal score to Medvedev, who sang the role of Herman inscribed, "To the best Herman." And the public was delighted. The cast presented the author a silver wreath.

Unlike Kyiv, St. Petersburg's response was more than reserved. The capital's critics thought it Tchaikovsky's weakest opera. The composer was accused of "clammy dramaturgy" turning the opera into a senseless ghost tale; of musical borrowings and paraphrasing himself. The Kyiv press, by contrast, considered the opera one of Tchaikovsky best achievements. Chechott, a noted local critic, wrote that The Queen of Spades was very stageable and its libretto reflected keen knowledge of the stage and a remarkable ability to keep the audience in suspense.

Unfortunately, the opera's subsequent stage life in Kyiv was, mildly speaking, less spectacular. After Priashnykov it was again staged only twelve years later and its current renditions are somewhat abridged which in many respects deprives the opera of Tchaikovsky's original ideas.

After receiving a surname from Pushkin and a name from Tchaikovsky, Herman went abroad. They say that he lost his voice there and now he mostly dances. At present, The Queen's ballet versions are increasingly popular in the West. Among their authors one finds spectacular names such as Serge Lifar, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Rudolf Nureyev. Too bad we have not been able to watch their renditions in Ukraine, but we can try to bake the cake of happiness and await our luck.