EXCLUSIVE
"La Fanciulla" Playing Cards (2 Deck Set)
Price: $20.00 Members: $18.00
In-Stock
Item: 10069425
Description
La Fanciulla Playing Cards (2 Deck Set)
Exclusive to the Met Opera Shop, these playing cards feature a different image on the back of each deck: one of the legendary Enrico Caruso as Dick Johnson in the Met’s 1910 premiere of Giacomo Puccini’s opera, La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West). The other deck of cards depicts the brilliant Renata Tebaldi delivering a breathtaking performance as Minnie in the 1970 production at the Metropolitan Opera.
Our double poker set is inspired by the “card scene” when Minnie desperately makes Rance an offer. If she beats him at poker, he must let Johnson go free. If Rance wins, she will marry him. Hiding some cards in her stockings, Minnie cheats and wins.
Packaged in a clear acrylic box as a set of two decks. Ideal for gift giving.
- Clear acetate box
- Sold only as a set of 2 decks
History
La Fanciulla del West
Giacomo Puccini’s “American” opera, La Fanciulla del West, made its glamorous and much-publicized world premier in 1910 at the Met with the composer seated in the audience.
This romantic epic of the Wild West takes place in the mountains of California during the Gold Rush between 1849-1850 in a fictional setting, which features a combination of mythic and gritty realistic elements.
Most of the action in this three-act opera centers around the Polka Saloon where miners gather to drink, sing and play cards. It is there that Sherriff Jack Rance confesses his love to the gun-slinging heroine, Minnie— “Minnie, della mia casa” —but she spurns him, determined to win the man she loves, Dick Johnson. She does, but learns later he is the outlaw bandit being hunted. In the end, thanks to the mercy given by the miners, the couple rides away to start a new life together.
La Fanciulla del West was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera with Met stars Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destinn for whom Puccini created the leading roles of Dick Johnson and Minnie.
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