The Queen of Spades at Covent Garden has a lot of super music and is an interesting production by Norwegian director Stefan Herheim. The road to operatic hell is paved with ‘interesting’ productions.
I have seen the opera often so knew I would enjoy the music but came to the production with an innocent eye. The curtain rises to music by Mozart played on a musical box. I took this in my stride but could not help noticing Tchaikovsky himself on stage, on his knees, doing something unspeakable to a soldier. So now we know that the composer had homosexual tendencies; actually we know that already and don’t need to be reminded.
In this production Tchaikovsky plays a pivotal role, composing and conducting the other singers. He sings some of Prince Yeletsky’s role. It is far from a disaster but taking such liberties means that the three cards in the opera are replaced by sheet music and the plot looses its narrative drive.
On the other hand a gi-normous chorus in fabulous costumes and singing both of which can only be heard in a world-class opera house made the performance highly enjoyable. I was a little disappointed in the Countess – she looked much too sprightly. My edition of Kobbe has a picture of Dame Felicity Palmer singing the part at Glyndebourne in the 1990s and looking as old as the hills. The very same Felicity Palmer was the Countess on Sunday and in real life is now seventy-five. But from my seat you could knock off thirty years.
This morning I’m waking up abroad. I took this Turneresque picture yesterday afternoon as I forsook the Queen of Spades for the Queen of the Adriatic.
Your QofS Director must have seen the current Bayreuth production of Maestersinger which featured Wagner and family heavily. It was directed by Barrie Kosky who is Jewish (a Bayreuth first for a Director), gay and Australian but didn’t feel it necessary to feature a cobbler being abused.
Glad the music helped redeem the oddities of the production. Directorial overreach in the quest for novelty is quite a curse, but at least opera as an art form is alive and well in Britain (and on the Continent and in Ireland, to judge from your blog).
Best Countess I’ve seen was Elisabeth Soderstrom at the Met (with Domingo as Ghermann). She was suitably creepy and terrifying, poignant and tender, as appropriate.
Lucky you to be in Venice!