Riddle of connoisseurs, or "It's almost midnight, but Herman is not there"

"And what's the mystery?" - you ask. Who is Herman, what is the midnight and in general, what is it about? In fact, everything is simple: it's a catch phrase from Pushkin's "Queen of Spades". Yes, it is precisely Pushkin, is it just him?

A bit of history

In the distant 1833 Alexander Sergeevich wrote a short prose novel, with an unfinished plot, which, however, brought him great fame and was repeatedly published abroad. Mystical intrigue, the theme of fate, fortune, card excitement, the game of passions - all this was very popular in a secular society. Young people are not rich, but ambitious dreamed of "making a fortune" thanks to the game. The sated thugs of life tickled their nerves and received new sensations, betting huge amounts. Emotions, beating over the edge, secrets and intrigues, searching for treasured combinations that promise 100% winnings, secret love, seduced innocence, human unscrupulousness - that's the atmosphere in which the famous story sounds: "It's almost midnight, and Herman is all no!"

The plot and heroes

The hero of the story is a young man, German by birth, named Hermann. He is passionate, but poor, save money, he does not take cards, although he dreams to break the bank and become a rich man overnight. His friend once talks about his grandmother, who allegedly knows the secret of the "three cards", with the help of which you can earn millions. The old Countess has a poor pupil - Lisa. After seducing her, the hero tries to get close to the old woman. The phrase "it's already approaching midnight, and Herman is not there" is exactly what Lisa is saying, waiting for her imaginary lover. However, everything ends sadly. The Countess, frightened by Hermann, is dying. He knows how to recognize the cards, even twice he gets a big win. However, for the third time he plays outright and goes insane. Now it is more detailed about the mysterious phrase "it's already midnight, but Herman is not there" and some "mistakes" in spelling.

Two "Queen of Spades"

At the beginning of December 1890, the audience of the famous Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg came to the premiere of the opera, which for the third century has not come down from the most prestigious scenes of the world. This is the "Queen of Spades", the music of which was written by the great PI Tchaikovsky. The work is based on the very story of Pushkin, as well as using poems Derzhavin and Ryleeva, Zhukovsky and Batiushkov. The author of the libretto is Modest Tchaikovsky, the composer's brother. He, apparently, came up with a future aphorism: "It's almost midnight, but Herman is not there."

Two Hermans

Why Tchaikovsky? Because there is no such proposal in the Pushkin text. This is not the original poet, successfully used by the librettist. As well as the main character in the opera - not the direct double of the hero of the story. Herman ("The Queen of Spades" -oper) is the name of the character, it is written with one letter "n", and this is perfectly correct; Patronymic, derivatives from him - Germanovna, Germanovich. In the story, we read: "Hermann was the son of an Russified German ...". That is, this is the German surname of the hero, the Russian variant of writing the modern German word "Hermann" from "her Mann", ie. Man, man, husband. Thus, Pushkin's poetry, like his prose, clearly shows how creatively the author approached the language, masterfully playing up some linguistic phenomena. But if you do not know such subtleties, you can make mistakes in spelling and interpretation of the word.

The meaning of the phrase

As for the meaning of the phrase, it became a winged, phraseological. In what case will his use be in place? Suppose, if we are talking about a late person. And you want not just to emphasize the fact of the absence of someone, but to do it ironically. Or when you want to express disappointment over this delay. Then demonstratively look at your wristwatch and in a deliberately dramatic voice say: "It's almost midnight, but Herman is not there!"