Lady Luck Is a Diva, Part 1

One of the most thrilling card scenes in opera must surely be the Poker game between Minnie and Rance in Puccini’s 1910 La Fanciulla del West, in which the virginal, Bible-quoting Minnie’s ability to cheat at cards saves the life of the man she loves. Apparently already an old hand at the game, it is Minnie who sets the rules: if Sheriff Rance wins two deals out of three, he gets both Minnie and her beloved, Dick, who is a wanted man in the criminal sense. But if she wins, both she and Dick go free. Out come the cards. In the first round, both Rance and Minnie have King High ("Re"), and Minnie’s Queen ("Regina.") outranks his Jack ("Fante."). The next deal evens them up –- Rance has two Aces and a pair ("Due assi a un paio") topping Minnie’s random hand. The final round is crucial. They cut and shuffle and, when Rance brags that he has three Kings ("Tre re") she pretends to feel faint. As soon as his back is turned, when he goes to fetch her something to drink, she substitutes cards she has concealed in her stocking for those she has been holding, and triumphantly declares "Tre assi e un paio!" ("three Aces and pair"), which outranks his hand. Rance furiously storms out of her cabin with a stilted "Buona notte" as Minnie hysterically laughs "E mio!" ("He [Dick] is mine!").

How did she learn how to play -- and cheat -- so well? Hanging out with the miners, no doubt. That poker scene is so memorable that most people forget there is also another game of cards in the same opera, during Act I. That game is Faro, the most popular gambling card game of the Old West. The miners select a dealer (Sid) and hunker down to bet. Joe stakes on the Queen, Harry on low ranks, Handsome on high. We then hear Sid dealing out the cards: a King...Ace...Knave...Queen...3...7, as the men discuss fellow-miner Larkin's homesickness. While the Faro game proceeds, the men generously take up a collection to send Larkens home –- but then explode into anger when Handsome catches Sid cheating.

In Part 2, we’ll look at another operatic appearance of Faro, as well as at several other very vocal games of chance.

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