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The Queen of Spades or Pique Dame (Пиковая дама in Russian) is a short story by famed Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin. It was adapted into a fairly well known opera with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The opera libretto is by Modest Tchaikovsky, the composer's brother. The first performance was on 19 December 1890 in Saint Petersburg.
Pushkin's original story was rewritten dramatically before it was suitable to be turned into an opera. In the operatic treatment, Herman is a an army officer who falls in love with Lisa, the granddaughter of a Countess who was taught the "secret of the three cards", and was subsequently known as the Queen of Spades. She has revealed the secret to two men, but if she reveals it to a third, she will die. Herman becomes obsessed with learning the secret, and it costs him his possessions, Lisa and, ultimately, his own life.
In Pushkin's original story, the love affair with Lisa, although still an important plot event, is subsidiary to Herman's obsession with the secret of the cards. Herman is ultimately driven mad, but does not die, while Lisa goes on to live happily.
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