Pique Dame (Suppé)

Pique Dame
Operetta by Franz von Suppé
Title page of the score for the Pique Dame overture, published in 1867
TranslationThe Queen of Spades
LibrettistS. Strasser
LanguageGerman
Premiere
June 1864 (1864-06)
Thalia Theater, Graz

Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) is an operetta in two acts by Franz von Suppé to a German-language libretto very loosely based on Alexander Pushkin's 1834 short story "The Queen of Spades". The author of the libretto is S. Strasser (probably Suppé's second wife Sofie Strasser). Pique Dame was a revised version of Suppé's 1862 operetta Die Kartenschlägerin ("The Fortune Teller") and premiered in June 1864 at the Thalia Theater in Graz. The work is primarily known today for its overture which remains a popular concert piece.