Amilcare Ponchielli (August 31, 1834 – January 17, 1886) was an Italian composer, largely of operas. August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining. ... 1834 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognizable opera houses and landmarks Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content or primary entertainment is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the...

Born in Paderno Fasolaro, now Paderno Ponchielli, near Cremona, Ponchielli won a scholarship at the age of nine to study music at the Milan Conservatory, writing his first symphony by the time he was ten years old. Paderno Ponchielli is a town and comune in the province of Cremona, in Lombardy, Italy. ... Paderno Ponchielli is a town and comune in the province of Cremona, in Lombardy, Italy. ... This article is about the city of Cremona. ... Music is a form of expression in the medium of time using the structures of tones and silence. ... A music school or conservatory is an institution dedicated to teaching the art of music, including playing of musical instruments, musical composition, musicianship, music history and music theory. ... A symphony is an extended piece of music usually for orchestra and usually comprised of several movements. ...

Two years after leaving the conservatory he wrote his first opera -- it was based on Alessandro Manzoni's great novel I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) -- and it was as an opera composer that he eventually found fame. Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognizable opera houses and landmarks Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content or primary entertainment is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the... Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni (March 7, 1785–May 22, 1873) was an Italian poet and novelist. ... I Promessi Sposi (English The Betrothed) is an Italian historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni. ...

His early career was disappointing. Maneuvered out of a professorship at the Milan Conservatory that he had won in a competition, he took small-time jobs in small cities. The turning point was the success of his revised version of I promessi sposi in 1872, which brought him a contract with the music publisher G. Ricordi & Co. and the musical establishment at the Conservatory and at La Scala. The ballet Le due gemelle (1873) confirmed his success. Casa Ricordi was a classical music publishing company founded in 1808 as G. Ricordi & Co. ... La Scala by night This article is about the opera house. ...

The following opera, I lituani (1874), was also well received, being performed also at Saint Petersburg (as Aldona - November 20, 1884), but his best known opera is La Gioconda, which his librettist Arrigo Boito adapted from a play by Victor Hugo. It was first produced in 1876 and revised several times. Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo by Victor Hugo. ... Arrigo Boito (February 24, 1842 – June 10, 1918) was an Italian poet, successful journalist, novelist and composer, best known today for his opera libretti and his own opera, Mefistofele. ... Victor-Marie Hugo. ...

In 1881, Ponchielli was appointed maestro di cappella of the Bergamo Cathedral, and from the same year he was a professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory, where among his students were Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni. Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (December 22, 1858 – November 29, 1924) is regarded as one of the great operatic composers of the late 19th and early 20th century. ... Pietro Mascagni (Livorno December 7, 1863 – Rome August 2, 1945) is one of the most important Italian opera composers of the turn of the 20th century. ...

After La Gioconda, Ponchielli wrote the monumental biblical melodrama in 4 acts Il figliuol prodigo (Milan, Teatro alla Scala, December 26, 1880) and Marion Delorme, from an other play by Victor Hugo (Milan, Teatro alla Scala, March 17, 1885). In spite of their rich musical invention, both these operas did not meet with the same success but exerted great influence on the composer of the rising generation, like Puccini, Mascagni and Giordano. Umberto Giordano (August 28, 1867 - November 12, 1948) was a composer, mainly of opera. ...

He died in Milan and was interred there in the Cimitero Monumentale. The Cimitero Monumentale in Milan, Italy is a very large cemetery located on the square given its name, Piazzale del Cimitero Monumentale. ...

Although in his lifetime Ponchielli was very popular and influential, in introducing an enlarged orchestra and more complex orchestration, the only one of his operas regularly performed today is La Gioconda. It contains the great tenor romanza "Cielo e mar", a wonderful duet for tenor and baritone "Enzo Grimaldo", the soprano set-piece "Suicidio!" and the ballet music "The Dance of the Hours", known even to the non-musical from its use in Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940), and its burlesque in the 1963 Allan Sherman novelty song, "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" and, to a lesser degree, the 1966 Perrey and Kingsley song, "Countdown To 6." La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo by Victor Hugo. ... this is a Romanza Page. ... Dance of the Hours is a song from La Gioconda composed by Amilcare Ponchielli. ... For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. ... Fantasia is a 1940 motion picture, the third in the Disney animated features canon, which was a Walt Disney experiment in animation and music. ... Allan Sherman (sometimes incorrectly Alan), November 30, 1924 - November 20, 1973, was an American musician, parodist, satirist, accordionist, and television producer. ... Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (also Faddah) is Allan Shermans best known song parody. ... Album cover art from In Sound from Way Out! The musical duo Perrey and Kingsley (Jean-Jacques Perrey, b. ...

Operas

• Il sindaco babbeo, 1881 (a student project)
• I promessi sposi, Cremona 1856. Ignored by the press.
• Bertrando del Bornio, 1858 (scheduled for Turin but not performed)
• La Savoiarda, 1861; revised as Lina, 1877
• Roderico, re dei Goti, 1863
• I promessi sposi, Milan (T. Dal Verme) 1872. Success in a revised version.
• Il parlatore eterno, 1873 (a monologue for baritone)
• I Lituani, 1874; revised, 1875
• La Gioconda, Milan 1876; Created by Julian Gayarre; revised versions 1876 and 1880
• Il figliuol prodigo, Milan 1880. Created by Francesco Tamagno
• Marion Delorme, Milan 1885; Created by Francesco Tamagno; revised Brescia, 1885.
• I Mori di Valenza (left incomplete; completed by Arturo Cadore and premiered in Monte Carlo Mar. 17, 1914); Created by Giovanni Martinelli

La Gioconda can refer to: A famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, better known as Mona Lisa; An opera by Amilcare Ponchielli. ...

External links

• List of operas with further details
• Opera Italiana: Amilcare Ponchielli (in English)

Bibliography

• Kaufman: Annals of Italian Opera: Verdi and his Major Contemporaries; Garland Publishing, New York and London, 1990. (contains premiere casts and performance histories of Ponchielli's operas)

• Various authors: Amilcare Ponchielli; Nuove Edizioni, Milan, 1985

• Various authors: Amilcare Ponchielli 1834-1886, Cremona, 1984