Russian Opera Arias, Vol. 1

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Cat No: 8554843

Release Date: 12 January 2001

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 636943484326

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: RUSSIAN OPERA ARIAS, Vol. 1

Description
Vladimir GrishkoRussian Opera Arias, Vol. 1 Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky is best known abroad for hisorchestral music. In the opera house only two works are in regular internationalrepertoire, Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, both based on Pushkin.The second of these, first staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in1890, has a libretto devised by the composer and his brother Modest. It is, inessence, a horror story, in the manner later favoured by Edgar Allan Poe, atale of monomania, leading to murder and suicide. It is spring and in a squarein the Summer Garden, where children play and nursemaids take care of theircharges, two officers discuss the strange behaviour of Hermann, who watchesthem gambling but never plays. Hermann and Count Tomsky enter, the latterseeking the cause of Hermann's melancholy. Hermann explains, in an arioso, howhe has fallen in love with a girl whose name, even, he does not know (Ya imeniyeyo nye znayu). They saunter off, returning to greet their friend PrinceYeletsky and congratulate him on his engagement. The Countess enters, with her granddaughterLisa, Yeletsky's betrothed, but also the object of Hermann's affections. In aquintet they all express their own feelings, the Countess and Lisa anxious atHermann's behaviour, Hermann aghast at the old Countess, Yeletsky puzzled atLisa's attitude and Tomsky anxious for his friend. As the ladies move away,Tomsky tells his friends the story of the Countess, who, as a young woman in Paris,had been saved from gambling losses by the revelation of the winning threecards, to be used to restore her fortunes, provided she never played again. Itis said that the Countess, who has revealed the secret twice, will die by thehand of the third person, who will force the secret from her. On the balcony outside her room Lisa has mixed feelingsabout Yeletsky, her musings interrupted by the appearance of Hermann, below. Heseeks her forgiveness in an arioso (Prosti, nyebesnoye sozdan'ye),interrupted by the voice of the Countess telling Lisa to go to bed. This turnsHermann's thoughts again to the story of the three cards. At a ball Hermann learns from Lisa how to reach thebedroom of the Countess, as he makes his way to hers. In the old woman'sbedroom he watches as she prepares for the night then rouses her, pleading at firstto learn the secret and then threatening her with a revolver. The Countess diesof shock and Lisa, hearing the noise, enters, now angry at Hermann's action, revealing,it seems, his plan to use her as a means of access to the Countess and thesecret of her wealth. At his barracks Hermann, now conscience-stricken,receives a note from Lisa, offering forgiveness and seeking a midnight meeting.The ghost of the Countess appears and unwillingly reveals the secret of thethree cards, Three, Seven and Ace, bidding him marry Lisa. She waits anxiouslyfor Hermann by the river embankment, comforted by his declaration of love, whenhe eventually arrives, but distra
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