Composer Amilcare Ponchielli
La Gioconda Fame, Regarded Founder of Italian Opera Modern School
Brief biography of Italian composer Amilcare Ponchielli - life, career, works, list of operas. Famous for opera 'La Gioconda' and as Puccini's teacher.
Italian composer Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886) is the most important Italian composer of the opera between Verdi and Puccini. He is regarded by music students as the founder of modern school of Italian opera.
Ponchielli's Early Life and Career
Born in Paderno Fasolano (now Paderno Ponchielli) near cremona, Ponchielli's early musical training came from his father, a shopkeeper, who played the organ in the village church, although a businessman by profession.
At the age of 9, Ponchielli studied music theory, composition, and piano at the Milan Conservatory. After Milan Conservatory, he settled in the province as a church organist, municipal band conductor.
In 1854, aged 20, Ponchielli was music director of the Cremona Theater, where his first opera was premiered.
Success didn't come early in Ponchielli's life. After he was maneuvered out as a professor at the Milan Conservatory, he took odd jobs, and composed several operas. None of these were successful, until he was 38 years old, with the much-revised I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) in 1872. A year later, his ballet Le due gemelle was also well-received.
Works including Masterpiece La Gioconda
I Lituani (The Lithuanians) with the Ricordi commission, and above all, with La Gioconda (Gioconda), considered his masterpiece on a text drawn from French writer Victor Hugo. La Gioconda is a melodramatic opera of passion, love, and murder. It includes the famous act 3 ballet "Dance of the Hours."
His other works include operas Bertrando, La savoiarda (The Savoyard Woman), I mori di Valenza (The Moors of Valencia), Il figliuol prodigo (The Prodigal Son).
Ponchielli also composed ballets, cantatas, songs, orchestral and chamber music, piano works, and numerous sacred music. Of his works, only his best known work La Gioconda is in the modern repertory.
Ponchielli's Later Years
During Ponchielli's last 10 years, he was professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory and maestro di cappella of Bergamo Cathedral. He taught Giacomo Puccini and briefly, Pietro Mascagni of Cavalleria Rusticana fame.
Amilcare Ponchielli may have lacked a strong personality, however, his works showed remarkable imagination and craftsmanship.
Ponchielli's Operas
- I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), 1856
- Bertranda del Barnia, 1858 (scheduled but not performed)
- La Savaiarda (The Savoyard Woman), 1861
- Roderico, re dei Goti (Roderick, King of the Goths), 1863
- I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), 1872. (Success in a revised version)
- Il parlatore eterno (The Eternal Windbag), 1873
- I Lituani (The Lithuanians), 1874 (revised as Aldona)
- La Gioconda (Gioconda), 1876, (opera that included the popular "Dance of the Hours")
- Il figliuol prodigo (The Prodigal son), 1880
- Marion Delorme, 1885
Ponchielli's Cantatas
- A Gaetano Donizetti 1875
- In Memoria di Garibaldi 1882
Sources:
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)
The Oxford Dictionary of Music, edited by Michael Kennedy, 2nd edition, OUP (1994)
