Newsletter

News about the schedule Personal recommendations Special offers ... Stay well informed!

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our Newsletter and receive 25% off your next ticket purchase.

* Mandatory field




Newsletter

Pique Dame – Die Handlung - Deutsche Oper Berlin

From the programme booklet

Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) – Synopsis

back

Pique Dame

Act I

Herman, a low-ranking military engineer, spends his nights at the gaming tables, observing the gambling without taking part. His comrades Chekalinsky and Surin observe his strange behaviour with some scepticism. Only the high-ranking Tomsky has an open ear for the outsider Herman, who confides to him that he has fallen in love with a mystery woman. He learns that this is Lisa, an aristocratic young girl, enganged to be married to Prince Yeletsky. Lisa lives with her grandmother, an
old countess who led a colourful life in the salons of Paris during her youth. The mysterious story of a secret of three cards follows her, cards which supposedly guarantee victory to those who know them. A ghostly prophecy says that only a man inflamed by passion could wrest the secret from the countess. When Herman hears this, it promises him untold wealth and the possibility to marry Lisa. Lisa also has feelings for Herman, the mysterious stranger. Polina and friends are celebrating Lisa’s engagement, but Lisa’s mood is low. The song and dance ends abruptly when the governess enters and enforces silence in the countess’ name. When Lisa is finally alone and about to go to bed, Herman suddenly appears in her bedroom, confessing his love for her in an outburst of unbridled passion. He barely manages to hide from the countess who enters the room, alarmed by the noise. As soon as Herman and Lisa are alone again, she also confesses her affection for him, and they embrace passionately.

 

Act II

Everyone has been invited to a festive ball. Yeletsky notices Lisa’s melancholy mood and assures her of his love, but her thoughts are already on Herman. Encouraged by his comrades Chekalinsky and Surin, who urge him to pursue his fascination with the secret of the cards, Herman grows increasingly delusional. Finally, Lisa and Herman meet on the dance floor, where she hands him the key to her bedroom. At Herman’s insistence, they agree that he will come to visit her that very night.

When the countess and Lisa return home, Herman has already hidden himself in the countess’s bedroom. A secret passage leads to Lisa’s bedroom. He pauses in the countess’s room, struck by the portrait of her eventful youth and her reminiscence. He emerges from his hiding place and insists that she reveal the secret of the cards to him. The countess, however, cannot bear the intensity of this situation and dies. Lisa rushes in, deeply shocked by the sight that awaits her.

 

Act III

In a last attempt, Lisa has written a letter to Herman, asking him for a meeting by midnight that evening to assuage her terrible suspicions and fears. In his barracks, Herman is tormented by thoughts of the turbulent events of the countess’ death, but has no intention of meeting Lisa. At this point, an apparition of the dead countess appears to reveal the secret of the cards to him: the three cards he must bet on are the Three, the Seven and the Ace. If he marries Lisa, he will win by betting on them – that is her condition.

Lisa awaits Herman at the winter canal. The last minutes before midnight pass, and she is losing all hope that he will appear. When he does arrive, they assure each other of their mutual love. Lisa tells him that she will follow him to the end of the world. Blinded by his desire for a big win, however, and thinking only of the countess and her secret, Herman hastens to the casino, abandoning his beloved. Bereft of all hope, Lisa drowns herself.

Boisterously, the men enjoy life with alcohol and gambling. Herman appears, now completely delusional and intoxicated by his knowledge of the secret of the cards. He bets all his life savings on the Three and wins. The Seven also brings him victory. No one dares play another round against him, as he seems possessed by the devil. Only Prince Yeletsky is rich enough to bet against him, in the hope of finally taking revenge. Herman bets his recently multiplied fortune on one card, and the Ace is drawn. In his delusional state, however, Herman had bet on the Queen of Spades instead. Herman believes himself to be cursed by the countess and takes his own life. In a final moment of mental absolution, he believes that Lisa has come to forgive him.

Enter Onepager
1

slide_title_1

slide_description_1

slide_headline_2
2

slide_title_2

slide_description_2

slide_headline_3
3

slide_title_3

slide_description_3

slide_headline_4
4

slide_title_4

slide_description_4

Create / edit OnePager
22
DEC

Advents-Verlosung: Das 22. Fensterchen

On 7 March 2025, the first part of Tobias Kratzer's Strauss trilogy, ARABELLA, celebrates its revival as part of our ‘Richard Strauss in March’ weeks, with Jennifer Davis as Arabella , Heidi Stober as Zdenka/Zdenko, Thomas Johannes Mayer as Mandryka, Daniel O'Hearn as Matteo and, as in the premiere series, Doris Soffel and Albert Pesendorfer as the Waldner couple. Today we are giving away our DVD, which will not be available in shops until 14 February 2025. We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to NAXOS for giving us the very special opportunity to put ARABELLA in our lottery pot for you almost eight weeks before the official sales launch.

In today's Advent Calendar window, we are giving away two DVDs of ARABELLA – a lyrical comedy in three acts by Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. If you would like to win one of the two DVDs, please write an e-mail with the subject ‘The 22nd window’ to advent@deutscheoperberlin.de.

Vienna, circa 1860. The financially strapped Count Waldner is lodging with his family in a Viennese hotel. His only path to solvency is for him to secure an advantageous marriage for one of his two daughters – and the family can only afford to present Arabella, the eldest, in the upper circles of society. To conceal the family’s indigence, the parents have raised Zdenka as a boy, dressing her accordingly. Arabella is not short of suitors but has resolved to wait for ‘Mr Right’. When Mandryka, an aristocrat from a distant region, arrives, he and Arabella are instantly smitten. Arabella only asks to be able to bid farewell to her friends and suitors at the Fasching ball that evening. At the ball, Arabella says goodbye to her admirers. There is also the young officer Matteo, with whom Zdenka is secretly in love and with whom she has formed a friendship under the guise of her disguise as a boy. Matteo, however, desires Arabella and is distraught when he realises the hopelessness of his love. Zdenka devises a plan: she fakes a letter from Arabella in which she promises Matteo a night of love together. But instead she wants to wait for him herself in the darkness of the hotel room. Mandryka learns of Arabella's alleged infidelity and goes to the hotel with the ball guests to surprise Arabella in flagrante delicto. Arabella, innocent of this, is initially shocked and saddened by Mandryka’s suspicions but forgives him when the mix-up is revealed for what it is. The two agree to marry, as do Zdenka and Matteo.

Richard Strauss’s orchestral richness and opulence coupled with the period Viennese setting of the work led to ARABELLA being falsely pigeonholed as a light-hearted comedy of errors from its 1933 premiere onwards. In the estimation of Tobias Kratzer, however, who triumphed at the Deutsche Oper with his production of Alexander von Zemlinsky’s THE DWARF, this final collaboration between Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal marks a collision of two world views: the traditional roles of men and women on the one hand – as expressed in Arabella’s famous solo “Und du sollst mein Gebieter sein” – and a modern idea of social interaction on the other – as illustrated by Zdenka with her questioning of gender-based identities. Here, Kratzer turns the spotlight on this disunity between the various character portrayals in ARABELLA and explores these role-specific tensions on a continuum stretching from 19th-century Vienna to the present day. In the category of stage design, Manuel Braun, Jonas Dahl and Rainer Sellmaier were honoured with the renowned German Theatre Award DER FAUST 2023 for this production.

In this recording, under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles, you will experience Albert Pesendorfer, Doris Soffel, Sara Jakubiak, Elena Tsallagova, Russell Braun, Robert Watson, Thomas Blondelle, Kyle Miller, Tyler Zimmerman, Hye-Young Moon, Lexi Hutton, Jörg Schörner and others, as well as the chorus and orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The performances on 18 and 23 March 2023 were recorded by rbb Kultur and Naxos for this DVD.

We would like to thank the Naxos label for the great collaboration over the past few years, which documents recordings of DER ZWERG, DAS WUNDER DER HELIANE, FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, DER SCHATZGRÄBER, DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG and ANTIKRIST. Richard Strauss' ARABELLA and INTERMEZZO will be released in the course of 2025.


Closing date: 22 December 2024. The winners will be informed by email on 23 December 2024. The DVDs will then be sent by post. There is no right of appeal.