A soldier bets everything on three cards and loses his mind—Tchaikovsky goes full gothic fever dream.
Obsessive in gambling and in love, the soldier Hermann is the protagonist of Tchaikovskys Pique Dame, based on a story by Pushkin. He is smitten with the aristocratic Lisa and fixated on learning the winning secret of the three cards from her grandmother, the Countess, played by iconic contralto Ewa Podles. This opulent production from Barcelonas Liceu captures St Petersburg in the era of Catherine the Great, while the houses Music Director Michael Boder conducts a large and impressive cast. Recorded at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 30th June & 1st July 2010.
Acting
Ewa Podleś's Countess—legendary contralto, genuinely terrifying final scene.
Direction
Deflo's staging balances imperial splendor with Hermann's claustrophobic unraveling.
Score
Tchaikovsky's most dramatically taut opera, death-obsessed and harmonically restless.
Director
Pietro d'Agostino
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Tchaikovsky wrote the role of Hermann for a specific tenor he admired, then had to rewrite it when that singer refused—explaining its punishing vocal demands.
Pushkin's original 1834 story was banned briefly in Russia for its 'immoral' depiction of gambling; Tchaikovsky's 1890 version made it respectable by turning it into high art.
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