Tchaikovsky’s
The Queen of Spades (1890), a gem of the world opera, is an amazingly profound and powerful research into human psychology.The opera was based on the Pushkin novel (1833), some details of which were changed and, most important, different accents were made. They were aimed to emphasize romantic conflicts such as “human being vs. fate”, “life vs. death”, “love vs. game”. Officially the composer’s brother Modest Tchaikovsky is considered the librettist of the opera.However it was Pyotr Tchaikovsky with his remarkable literary talent and dramatic feeling who was the invisible “director”.
In Yuri Alexandrov’s production the main theme is the characters’ tragedy which is inseparably linked with their country’s tragedy. The fate of the three main characters, Herman, Lisa and the Countess, is seen through the historical circumstances of the last one hundred years. The fourth, unseen protagonist is the Tsar’s family. Their death became one of the prologues to Russia’s drama. This production is dedicated to the 400th Anniversary of the House of Romanov.
For stage directors the difference in Pushkin’s and the Tchaikovsky brothers’ concepts has been a source of inspiration and motivation to look for new solutions. Unlike the famous pushkinized versions by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Lev Dodin and Yuri Lyubimov, the crucial thing for Yuri Alexandrov is to preserve the musical text by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and the logic and sequence of the scenes.
Yuri Alexandrov: “For me The Queen of Spades is a special production. Its first sketch appeared in 2000 as an afterword to the passing 20th century. I’ve always been disturbed by the fact that Pyotr Tchaikovsky cried a lot while composing the opera. His tears are my tears. Most of the scenes have been inspired by the pain of my family, my city, my country. The Queen of Spades is my pain”.
