Metropolitan Opera – Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades. March 15, 2011.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center - Balcony Seat D27 ($87.50).

Story. Hermann is in love with Lisa. He also finds out Lisa’s Countess grandmother, known as The Queen of Spades, holds the secret to the three cards that form a winning combination. Even though Lisa is engaged to Yeletsky, she gives Hermann the key to the house. Hermann first sees the Countess and tries to use a pistol to force her to reveal the numbers; instead she dies from fright. The Countess appears to Hermann in a dream and reveals the numbers as “3, 7, and ace.” Lisa realizes that Hermann is consumed with this and drowns herself. Hermann goes to a card game and wins with the number 3 and 7. When he bets on the ace, he gets the queen of hearts instead and loses. He asks for forgiveness and stabs himself to death.

Conductor – Andris Nelsons. Hermann – Vladimir Galouzine, Prince Yeletsky – Peter Mattei, Lisa – Karita Mattila, The Countess – Dolora Zajick, Pauline/Daphnis – Tamara Mumford.

The Story I wrote above is the most “sensical” line I can put together. The original Pushkin short story has Hermann simply courting Lisa to get to the secret. The opera’s libretto was written by Modest, Tchaikovsky’s brother. Tchaikovsky wanted a more prominent role for Lisa so she ended up meeting with Hermann in Act III and killing herself. Also, in the Pushkin story Hermann went mad and lived in an asylum muttering “three, seven, ace” all the time. Whatever the reason, the story as told by the opera has many gaps. Lisa drowns herself by walking through a curtain; I wouldn’t have realized it had I not read the synopsis. Nonetheless, the story is coherent enough that its holes and inconsistencies didn’t bother me very much.

The Balcony section actually has good acoustics. Our seats were to the side, but we heard all the singers very clearly. We decided to subscribe again for the 2011/12 season and picked Balcony Prime seats. They are less expensive than Dress Circle seats, but the acoustics are a bit muffled for the rear DC seats.

The sets for this opera are quite elaborate. The Program Notes says Tchaikovsky didn’t set the story at the time of Catherine the Great (1762-1796) but in “the 19th-century fairyland known as the ‘18th century’”. Not that I would know the difference – perhaps the costume would be different? In any case, Catherine the Great made a short appearance (she walked in half-way and then left), no doubt to the puzzlement of many in the audience. It is amazing how deep the stage is, and in this opera the depth is used to good effect.

The current issue of Opera News has an article on the role of The Countess. The role is usually sung by a singer near retirement and allows her to have quite a bit of fun acting. There is also considerable singing, but not particularly challenging. The article exempts Zajick as someone at the twilight of her career, though. As a ghost, she climbs from an opening on the floor and crawls to the bed where Hermann is sleeping. Funny, a bit grotesque, but not scary. The ghost is dressed in red, not quite the white with a spot light that in my opinion would work better.

Tchaikovsky spreads the singing around. Other secondary characters also got to sing quite a bit. Of particular note is Tamara Mumford who sang both Pauline (Lisa’s sister) and Daphnis (a young man in the pastorale). Tchaikovsky certainly was capable of writing hummable melodies; for some reason he decided to use a different style. A notable exception in this case was the Pastorale where the melodies are all quite pleasant and singable.

For me the one missing element is the emotional aspect of the story. The work has enjoyable sets, singing, the orchestra played well, and there are some nice passages (even though not singable), but nothing tugs at your heart, which is a pity. Perhaps it is futile to add a love element to a story that is basically deceit-themed?

Overall, still an enjoyable experience. The New York Times review goes into quite a bit of detail about many aspects of the opera. In particular, it points out Mattila first sang in this production in 1995, and her voice is not as strong as before. Indeed I felt she had to strain a bit to get to the high notes. The reviewer also calls Zajick "luxury casting."