Classical Music / Composer's Datebook: August 31
Brief biography of Italian composer Amilcare Ponchielli, regarded as founder of Modern School of Italian Opera. He is famous for opera 'La Gioconda' (The Joyful Girl), and he was teacher of Puccini and Mascagni.
Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886) is considered the most important Italian composer of the opera between Verdi and Puccini, and founder of modern school of Italian opera.
Early Life
Amilcare Ponchielli was born in Paderno Fasolano (now Paderno Ponchielli) near cremona, on August 31, 1834. Ponchielli's early musical training came from his father, a shopkeeper, who played the organ in the village church, although a businessman by profession.
Early Musical Training
At the age of nine, 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.
Ponchielli's Career and First Success
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.
Ponchielli's Works:
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 that 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.
Later Years
During the last ten years of Ponchielli, 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.
Although Amilcare Ponchielli lacks a strong personality, his work shows remarkable imagination and craftsmanship. He is remembered with La Gioconda. He died in Milan, 16th of January, 1886
Ponchielli's Operas
I promessi sposi, 1856
Bertranda del Barnia, 1858 (scheduled but not performed)
La Savaiarda, 1861
Roderico, re dei Goti, 1863
I promessi sposi, 1872. (Success in a revised version)
Il parlatore eterno, 1873
I Lituani, 1874 (revised as Aldona)
La Gioconda, 1876, (includes the "Dance of the Hours")
Il figliuol prodigo, 1880
Marion Delorme, 1885
Ponchielli's Cantatas
A Gaetano Donizetti, cantata 1875
In Memoria di Garibaldi, cantata 1882
Image Credit:
Amilcare Ponchielli. Karadar.com / Public Domain
Resources:
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)
Amilcare Ponchielli. en.wikipedia.org
August 2008. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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