Salzburg Festival

What you need to know: The Player by Prokofiev

The opera quick check by Larissa Schütz(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Markus Tschepp)

Whether you're on the trolley bus on the way to the performance, having a cigarette in front of the Salzburg Festival Hall or queuing in the toilet - with the opera quick check, you'll be perfectly prepared for the premiere in just two minutes. Part five of the series: The Player by Sergei Prokofiev.

What's it all about? Luck in the game, bad luck in love. In Prokofiev's first major opera based on Dostoyevsky's novel of the same name, the saying becomes the fate of the protagonist. The work is a highly complex musical warning: gambling can be addictive.

The plot: Alexei is in love with Polina, the general's protégé, and she is in debt. The general is also in debt and in love with Blanche. He hopes that Polina's grandmother Babulenka will die soon so that he can inherit, pay off his debts and marry Blanche. But instead of dying, Babulenka turns up unexpectedly and discovers her enthusiasm for gambling at the local casino, which ultimately costs her her fortune and the general his bride. Meanwhile, Polina has been abandoned by her lover, the rich marquis, and owes him money. She persuades Alexei, who is in love with her, to gamble for her at the casino. He seems to be on a never-ending winning streak and enthusiastically brings the winnings to Polina, but she has changed her mind and throws the money in his face. Polina leaves, Alexei's gambling addiction remains.

Show-off fact for the break: Dostoyevsky wrote the novel in just 26 days in order to meet a publishing deadline and get out of a financial predicament that - surprise surprise - his gambling addiction had got him into. He was only able to meet the deadline because his wife, to whom he dictated the text, knew shorthand.