Eugen Onegin
Hermann - Vladimir Galouzine
Lisa - Hasmik Papian
La Comtesse - Irina Bogatcheva
Comte Tomski - Nikolai Putilin
Prince Eletski - Ludovic Tézier
Pauline - Christianne Stotijn
Tchekalinski - Vsevolod Grivnov
Sourine - Sergei Stilmachenko
Macha - Irina Tchistjakova
Orchester und Chor der l'Opéra National de Paris
GENNADI ROZHDESTVENSKY
Regie / Inszenierung: Lev Dodin
*** DVD - TDK - DVWW-OPPIQUE - Oktober 2007 ***
„Ihre Dame ist geschlagen!“
Dieser Satz reicht aus, um den Haupthelden des Puschkin’schen Dramas in den Wahnsinn zu treiben.
TDK brachte eine neue Aufnahme von Tschaikovskis Drama auf den Markt aus der Opera de Bastille. Sängerisch gesehen einwandfrei. Vladimir Galusin bietet einen dramatischen gut versierten Hermann, Hasmik Papian ist eine lyrische aber etwas phlegmatisch geratene Lisa. Nikolai Putilin ist ein sonorer Graf Tomski.
Star des Ensembles ist jedoch die im Kirov Ensemble lediglich für Nebenrollen bekannte Irina Bogacheva als eine brilliante höhen- wie tiefensichere Gräfin. Stimmlich gesehen eine einwandfreie Leistung.
Allerdings wurde durch die dem Werk komplett fremde Regie Lev Dodins die Oper dem Original komplett entfremdet. Hier spielt das Geschehen zu Anfang im Irrenhaus, wo Hermann nach seinem Verlust gelandet ist. Das ganze Geschehen spielt sich auf der oberen Ebene der Bühne als Hermanns Erinnerungen ab. Beim Erscheinen der Gräfin und der Lisa flüchtet Hermann denn plötzlich und seinen Platz auf dem Krankenbett nimmt die Gräfin ein.
Während der darauf folgenden Arie des Tomsky, kommentiert diese dann das Geschehen, womit der Regisseur nicht nur das Geschehen, sondern auch die Musik nach seiner Willkür umgeändert hat.
Das zweite Bild spielt sich plötzlich in der Realität ab. Lisa und Pauline kommen den wahnsinnigen Hermann besuchen und unterhalten die ganze Irrenanstalt mit ihren Liedern. Hier wurden die beiden Nebenrollen der Gouvernante und der Mascha auf eine Person gelegt, wobei die belehrenden Tiraden der Gouvernante, in denen sie von Anstand der Mädchen höheren Standes redet, in dem gegebenem Kontext auf die Patienten des Irrenhauses gerichtet, etwas grotesk klingen.
Die schlimmste Entfremdung ist jedoch die Ballszene, die in das Irrenhaus verlegt wurde. Die Intermezzo- Pastorale wird mit Hermann Lisa und der Gräfin gespielt, denen man die Augen verbindet. Hermann muß sich zwischen der jungen und schönen Lisa oder der alten aber reichen Gräfin entscheiden. Schon wieder eine Abweichung in der Stimmführung. In der darauf folgenden Monologszene der Gräfin ist Diese nunmehr auch Patientin in der Irrenanstalt und phantasiert über ihre Vergangenheit.
David Thomaschvilli
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s opera The Queen of Spades is without doubt his greatest masterpiece for the stage. TDK presents a DVD recording of a production by the Opéra National de Paris under the direction of Lev Dodin and the baton of Gennadi Rozhdestvensky. This performance – sung in the original Russian – combines the western European staging-tradition and Russia’s masterful musicality. Combined with first-class singers, mostly of Russian origin, this makes for a recording that is an audiovisual treat.
The opera deals with the destructive and isolating nature of an addiction to gambling and tells the story of the army officer Herman who manipulates the naive Lisa. She is the granddaughter of a countess known as the Queen of Spades, who allegedly knows the so-called secret of the three cards which she has so far revealed only to two men. Apparently she will die if she reveals it to a third. The gambler Herman is obsessed with learning the secret, which eventually costs him his possessions, Lisa’s love and his life.
Tchaikovsky himself regarded his work as masterful and it has not lost anything of its fascination over the years. When he completed the final scene of the opera with Hermann’s death, the composer was unable to hold back his tears. The main hero had become a real creature of flesh and blood for him - his double. Accordingly, in the opera, Herman appears in all seven scenes. This demands a great deal of skill and endurance on the part of the singer and Russian tenor Vladimir Galouzine is the perfect match for this role. His passionate acting and intense singing combine to form an amazingly strong stage personality who can convincingly bring the protagonist’s sufferings across without ever slipping into the melodramatic. He is joined by the excellent Armenian soprano Hasmik Papian as Lisa. The cast is led by a “grand seigneur” of Russian opera, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky.
Modest Tchaikovsky added a number of highly spectacular scenes to Pushkin’s original. These include the third-act ball that added little to the story from a dramaturgical point of view and Lisa’s suicide (she throws herself into the River Neva) just before Hermann shoots himself. Neither of the two dies in Pushkin’s novella, instead Hermann goes mad and is locked away in an asylum, while Lisa resigns herself to marrying a non-commissioned officer.
Even if the main lines of the story remain, the characters in the opera, the relationships between them and the situations arising from these relationships, are indicative of profound differences between the short story and the opera. From the outset, therefore, the opera was accused of having watered down and distorted Pushkin’s masterpiece and there has always been a wish to re-interpret Tchaikovsky’s score in the light of Pushkin’s short story.
To a certain extent, this desire to rediscover Pushkin’s original short story in Modest Tchaikovsky’s libretto also informs director Lev Dodin’s work. He throws new light on the masterpiece when he sets the opening of the opera in the place where Hermann’s destiny is sealed. He shows us a madhouse, where the hero is locked up and condemned to relive the drama of his life endlessly and without respite.
Dodin expresses the idea behind this visionary staging in the introductory notes that he wrote for his Paris production: “The hero of Pushkin’s novella on which Tchaikovsky’s eponymous opera is based ends his life in the Obukhov Asylum, a famous psychiatric clinic in St Petersburg. In a sense, then, Pushkin’s story is the story of an illness. This illness is not just a fatal passion for gambling, it is also a quasi-clinical study of Hermann’s dissatisfaction, his sense of inadequacy in the world in which he lives and his identity crisis. The three cards do not merely represent the obscure fate that threatens humankind but, rather, the sense of human vulnerability that torments us all, the humiliations, the transience of happiness, the insurmountable desire to seize this happiness with both hands, in one go, suddenly, now, at once, at whatever price and for good. Playing poker with the Almighty and winning – that is everything. In trying to win at gambling, we do not realize that we are forfeiting our lives. The walls of the psychiatric ward at the Obukhov Asylum are not far away. The other actors in The Queen of Spades naturally feel at home here. Human beings are both tragic and eccentric. It is no accident that through the inspired melodies of The Queen of Spades we also hear the tragic accents of the Sixth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s last work. The more we advance, the more we feel their presence in the music and in the story, this simple story as terrifying as any human life and as brief as any cruel and malignant illness.”
TDK presents this DVD in their series of recordings from the prestigious Opéra National de Paris. The filming is sensitive to both the perfectly composed set and the impressive acting. Changing from close-ups to panoramic views of the stage action and using film sequences illustrating Herman’s nightmare-like obsession, the director captures the claustrophobic atmosphere in the madhouse and the trapped situation of the main characters – trapped in love like Lisa, in obsession like Herman or in the past like the “Pique Dame”.
The Composer and the Work:
The work was proposed by the director of St Petersburg’s Maryinsky Theatre, Ivan Alexandrovich Vsevolozhsky, who invited Tchaikovsky’s brother Modest to work up Alexander Pushkin’s famous short story into a libretto, but Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) himself turned down the commission, which was then offered instead to a little-known composer who wrote a light opera. But Vsevolozhsky was expecting a masterpiece and hoping for a work that would be the Russian equivalent of Carmen. Now he was more anxious than ever that Tchaikovsky should write the music. Two years later he got his way.
Tchaikovsky had suffered a bitter disappointment: although he had poured all his energies into the marvellous score of The Sleeping Beauty – his first collaboration with the great choreographer Marius Petipa – the work had been greeted with indifference by early audiences. Intended by Vsevolozhsky as a majestic, fairytale evocation of the age of Louis XIV, the ballet did not enjoy the hoped-for success.
Against this background, Tchaikovsky was no longer able to turn down the commission for The Queen of Spades when Vsevolozhsky approached him for a second time. He gradually warmed to the hero of Pushkin’s narrative, Hermann, and ended up by identifying with him. Early in 1890 he moved to Florence, where he set the libretto in forty-four days. Overwhelmed by the indescribable emotions caused by his work on the score, he finally wrote to his brother: “Either I’m horribly wrong and have no excuse, or The Queen of Spades is a masterpiece.”
The premiere was held at the Maryinsky Theatre, Saint Petersburg on December 19th, 1890.
Synopsis of the Opera:
Act I Scene 1.
In a garden in Saint Petersburg at the end of the 18th century, the officers Surin and Chekalinsky share impressions about the strange behaviour of their friend Herman. He spends time in the gambling house, but does not tempt fate at all. Herman enters with Colonel Tomsky opening his soul to him, explaining that he is passionately in love, but he does not know his loved one's name. They are joined by several officers and Prince Yeletsky tells of his upcoming marriage. Herman is horrified to learn that the prince's fiancée is the object of his passion.
The countess and her granddaughter enter and are hypnotised by the sight of the unfortunate Herman. Tomsky tells the story of the countess who, as a young Moscow "lioness" had lost all her fortune playing the cards, but won back her fortune by bribing Count Saint-Germain with sexual favours to give away the secret of three winning cards. She told two persons the secret but was warned by a phantom that she would receive a mortal blow once she told a third.
Herman listens to the story with great interest. Surin and Chekalinsky mockingly suggest that he find out the old woman’s secret at cards. A thunderstorm rumbles. The garden empties. Only Herman meets the raging elements openly. He exclaims that while he is alive, he will never let the prince have his beloved.
Scene 2.
At sunset in Lisa's room, the girls play music, trying to amuse their friend, who is sad despite her engagement to the prince. When alone, she reveals that she loves the mysterious stranger, in whose eyes she saw the fire of scorching passion. Suddenly, Herman appears on the balcony. He has come to see her one last time before killing himself. His ardour carries away Lisa. A knock at the door interrupts him. Hiding, Herman is excited by the appearance of the old countess, who looks like a terrible phantom of death. Unable to hide her feelings anymore, Lisa submits to Herman.
Act II Scene 1.
A rich dignitary is hosting a ball. Yeletsky, disturbed by the coldness of Lisa, assures her of the immensity of his love. Chekalinsky and Surin, wearing masks, scoff at Herman, asking him whether he will be the third to learn the secret of the three cards. Their words spark his imagination. After the completion of the pastoral The Faithful Shepherdess, he sees the Countess. When Lisa gives him the keys to her bedroom which connects to the countess's, Herman thinks it is an omen. Tonight he will learn the secret of the three cards, and with it, win Lisa’s hand.
Scene 2.
Herman hides in the bedroom of the countess. She enters. She is unhappy with the customs of the day, and with melancholy recalls the past. She falls asleep in an armchair. Herman reveals himself, begging her to reveal the secret of the three cards, but the countess, who has grown dumb with fright, says nothing. When Herman threatens her with a pistol, she dies of shock. Blaming Herman for the death, Lisa sends him away.
Act III Scene 1.
Herman is in a barracks. He reads Lisa’s letter, forgiving him, and asking him to meet her on the quay. In his imagination, he sees pictures of the old woman's funeral. Doleful singing is heard. The phantom of Countess appears in a white funeral shroud. "Rescue Lisa, marry her, and the three cards will win in succession. Remember! The three! The seven! The ace!"
Scene 2.
Lisa awaits Herman, full of doubt. At midnight, she is finally relieved when Herman appears. But Herman, after confessing his love, is possessed with the idea of using the secret of the three cards. When she refuses to go with him to the gambling house, he pushes her away and leaves. Lisa, realizing that the inevitable has happened, throws herself into the river.
Scene 3.
The players are gambling in the casino. Tomsky entertains them with a playful song. Herman enters and wins two large stakes, betting on the three and the seven. Prince Yeletsky, looking for revenge, is the only one who will cover the third bet. Instead of the expected ace, Herman is dealt the queen of spades. He sees the features of the old dead woman on the card. Horrified, he shoots himself. As he dies, he asks Lisa for forgiveness.
The Artists:
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. He received his musical education at the Moscow Conservatoire, studying conducting with his father Nikolay Anosov and piano with Lev Oborin. While still a student there, he made his debut at the age of twenty, conducting Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty at the Bolshoi Theatre. By the time he graduated he was already well known as a conductor both in the USSR and abroad.
From 1951 - 1961 he was staff conductor and then from 1964 - 70, Principal Conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre. There, he conducted among others, the Russian premiere of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Other principal conductorships included the All-Union Radio and TV Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, USSR Ministry of Culture Orchestra and the Moscow Chamber Opera of which he was also a founder.
He is a regular guest with major orchestras in Europe, North America and Japan, also occasionally conducting opera in leading houses.
In recent years he was Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Theatre (both the Ballet and Opera companies), where he premiered the original version of Prokofiev’s opera ‘The Gambler’. He has since guested with a number of orchestras and at the most important opera houses such as the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestra of the Beethovenhalle Bonn, Czech Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra as well as at La Scala, Netherlands Opera, Teatro la Fenice Venice, Opera Bastille, where he debuted in the 2004/2005 season with the production of Pique Dame recorded on this DVD.
He was decorated with various Russian State Prizes and also received awards from the Swedish Academy and in 2003 the Legion d’Honneur in France and the Order of the Rising Sun in Japan.
The Armenian soprano Hasmik Papian graduated from High Academy in Yerevan first as a violinist, then as a singer. After her debut at the Armenian National Opera where she sang Mimì, she was invited to appear as a soloist at Opera Bonn and Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf. She soon embarked on an international career and has since appeared at numerous theaters, including the most prestigious operatic stages in world. Her repertoire ranges from Donna Anna in Don Giovanni through Rachel (La Juive) and Micaëla (Carmen) to Mimì (La Boheme), Tosca, Madame Butterfly and Norma, her signature role.
Hasmik Papian has appeared at the Wiener Staatsoper, as well as the state operas of Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Berlin, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at Opera La Bastille in Paris; at Vlaamse Opera Antwerpe/Gent; at the Teatro Communale di Bologna, the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome, at Ravenna Festival and the Teatro alla Scala di Milano; at the Teatro Real Madrid and at the Maestranza in Sevilla; at London Wigmore Hall; at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw; at the Marinskij St. Petersburg; at New Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv; New Tokyo Opera; in Santiago, Chile; at Canadian Opera Company, Toronto, and Opéra de Montréal; Michigan Opera Detroit, Cincinnati Opera Festival, San Francisco Opera, Carnegie Hall and at the Metropolitan Opera New York.
She has worked with many notable conductors – as among them Marcello Viotti, Georges Prêtre, Michel Plasson, Pinchas Steinberg, Mun Wun Chung, Riccardo Muti and Valerij Gergiev.
Born in Robtsowsk, Vladimir Galouzine studied singing at the Conservatory of Novosibirsk. He gave his debut with the Novosibirsk Opera in 1981, singing Musical Comedy, later grand opera with role debuts as Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) and Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly).
The following year, Galouzine moved to St Petersburg where he sang in the Chamber Opera of St Petersburg. Then, Valery Gergiev invited him to become a member of the Kirov Opera, where he interpreted the leading tenor roles of the Russian repertoire: Grigori (Boris Godunov), Sadko, Grichka (Invisible City of Kitesh), Vladimir (Igor) and Sergej (Lady Macbeth of Mtsenk) as well as those from the Italian repertoire: Radames (Aida), Don Carlos, Cavaradossi (Tosca) and Otello. In 1993 he first sang his favourite role, Herman in The Queen of Spades.
Vladimir Galouzine made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York in the Kirov's productions of the Queen of Spades and Boris Godunov.
In 1994, he became a member of the Metropolitan Opera Company. He is a regular guest at opera houses throughout the world, namely Covent Garden London, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Amsterdam, Paris and the Vienna State Opera, Madrid's Teatro Real, Brussels' La Monnaie, Bastille Opera and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
TDK
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