At the dividing line of the world

Hermann, the central character of the plot, is a brooding loner who has no connection to the society around him; he loves Lisa, but the economic inequality - she is wealthier than he is - drives him crazy: his thoughts increasingly focus on a mysterious old countess who knows a secret about three unbeatable cards. Three playing cards that are supposed to bring him wealth - and with it, happiness in love. But the madness takes over, Hermann kills, loses his love and his purpose in life; what remains is a lonely death.

Rarely has a composer found himself in a character the way Tchaikovsky did in his Hermann. The jagged soul that suffered between people, but also in loneliness, the despair of life, the desolation and fear - these were all conditions and perceptions that the composer had to go through on a daily basis. It is therefore not surprising that he created a special masterpiece with this Queen of Spades, which is one of his most important works of music theater. Tchaikovsky sensed this, and so he wrote to his brother Modest, who had written the libretto, in a letter that became famous:

And the otherwise self-critical composer went even further when he noted: "It now seems to me that world history is divided into two periods: the first includes everything that has happened since the creation of the world up to the composition of The Queen of Spades. The second began a month ago. " And, of course, just one month after the composition was completed...

But the work brought him not only pride, but also pain during the work. We read that he wept bitter tears when he composed the death of Hermann in the finale of the opera, and he was gripped by shivers when it came to the ghostly apparition of the old countess. A highly personal, intensely experienced work.

But the quality of The Queen of Spades is certainly not limited to a personal relationship and the composer's pride. It is the musical maturity that fascinates in this work. Everything that Tchaikovsky had learned in his symphonies, his songs and earlier music theater works flowed into this late work, which was premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre three years before his death. A tonally illustrative imagery, symbolism encoded in music, such as the inexorability of fate as a descending sequence of notes and deliberate recourse to music history, are juxtaposed with large melodic casts. The truth of the emotion in contrast to the dusty, pompous ornamental theater of the past, the immediacy of the statement, an analysis of the network of human relationships and psychologies: that's what Tchaikovsky was all about!

In her 2007 production, director Vera Nemirova has also set the tragic opera in a time of economic upheaval, in which the worlds of rich and poor are drifting further and further apart: Hermann's obsessive pursuit of money and wealth, with which he initially tries to conquer the better-off Lisa, becomes even more plausible and understandable. The revival series features KS Anna Netrebko in the role of the desperate Lisa: a new role for "the" Netrebko at the Vienna State Opera, her second Tchaikovsky role at the Haus am Ring after Tatyana in Eugene Onegin . Other roles include Yusif Eyvazov (Hermann), Elena Maximova (Polina), Elena Zaremba (Countess) and Boris Pinkhasovich (Yeletsky). The Vienna State Opera welcomes a house debutant as conductor: Timur Zangiev.