Herman in Kyiv, or the history of one soul
By Olena DIACHKOVA
Among the Pushkin bicentennial jubilee festivities, from the huge bouquet
of celebrated operas made after his verse, the Kyiv public was offered
the privilege of attending Eugene Onegin and Mozart and Salieri.
However, this author would like to draw the reader's attention to another
creation.
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.






