Pique Dame (Suppé)
- Emil, Lieutenant and composer
- Judith, Fortune Teller
- Hedwig, daughter of a rich widow
- Fabian Muker, her guardian
The Queen of Spades is a comic opera in two acts by Franz von Suppe from the year 1864.
History
The Queen of Spades is based on one-act operetta Suppé The teller, who was only two years before, premiered on April 26, 1862, in the theater at Franz- Josef - Kai. This was not a success. For the Graz Thalia Theater Franz von Suppe wrote the operetta. The commitment to Graz mediated Millöcker, which was connected to the theater as a conductor and as a former student Suppé to this saw committed. For the makeover the work of an act two was extended and amended the title in Pique Dame. Whether the title to Alexander Pushkin in 1834, published the same story refers, is not sure the plot does not do it, anyway. The Grazer version was not a success and it's never been a performance in Vienna. All that remains is the overture, which became like many other overtures Suppé world celebrity.
The authorship of the libretto is not secured. The occasionally -to-find indication, the libretto of the previous work, the teller came from Karl Treumann, who headed the Kai- theater from 1860 to 1863, is based on an assumption of Julius Kromer. As a librettist of the teller, the initials N. N. are given, for the Queen of Spades, an indication S. S. Hans -Dieter Roser suspects behind these initials Sigmund Schlesinger ( 1832-1918 ).
Action
Emil, a young lieutenant who is also a composer at the same time is in love with Hedwig, the daughter of a wealthy widow. Judith, a fortune teller who keeps Emil for his mother tells him that she has accepted it only to the child instead. You tell Emil from his yet platonic love for Hedwig. But Fabian Muker, a wealthy privateer and Hedwig's guardian, is after her. Emil has gone through a loan he can not pay back, in his hand. Judith scared Muker the divination of the cards with the Queen of Spades and the resulting evil prophecies and lures him to a costume ball. There Muker is after all the jokes as womanizer in a seduction scene that is reminiscent of Robert le diable, exposed. Judith reveals the secret: Emil is Mukers nephew and gets out of this the paid and conquered him withheld inheritance to a happy end, of course, Hedwig heart.
Music
It is characteristic for the small business that Suppe, as one reviewer already certified him in the fortune-teller, " do not be too modest, within the limits of the actual operetta [ knew ] ." That was not to be expected for the early history of Viennese operetta, especially as was only given what it should not be not a mere imitation of Offenbach, no Posse ( more) and not an opera. So it was a bit of everything somewhere. There is the ( parodied ) romantic song, a duet which could have sprung for a romantic opera, and one in the best Italian Opera buffa style, then ( in the modern sense ) really operetta exemplary in the form of exoticism, in this case Spanish Folklorit and offenbach cancan shear. The Spanish -colored choral piece Suppe used again later in the introduction of Boccaccio.