Amilcare Ponchielli (1834–1886) was an Italian composer, mainly of opera. Read Full Bio ↴Amilcare Ponchielli (1834–1886) was an Italian composer, mainly of opera.
Born on 31st August 1834, 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.
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.
His early career was disappointing. Manoeuvered out of a professorship at the Milan Conservatory which he had won in a competition, he took small-time jobs in small cities, and composed several operas, none successful at first. The turning point was the big success of the 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.
The following opera, I Lituani (The Lithuanians) (1874), was also well received, being performed later at Saint Petersburg (as Aldona - 20th November 1884). His best known opera is La Gioconda, which his librettist Arrigo Boito adapted from the play by Victor Hugo that had been previously set by Mercadante (Il Giuramento, 1837) and Carlos Gomes (Fosca, 1873). It was first produced in 1876 and revised several times. The version that has become so popular today was first given in 1880.
In 1876 he started working on I mori di Valenza (the project dates back to 1873), an opera he never finished, although it was completed later by Arturo Cadore and performed posthumously in 1914.
After La Gioconda, Ponchielli wrote the monumental biblical melodrama in four acts Il figliuol prodigo (Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 26th December 1880) and Marion Delorme, from another play by Victor Hugo (Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 17th March 1885). In spite of their rich musical invention, neither of these operas met with the same success but both exerted great influence on the composers of the rising generation, such as Puccini, Mascagni, and Giordano.
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.
He died on 17th January 1886 in Milan, and was interred there in the 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 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 other popularisations and parodies.
Born on 31st August 1834, 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.
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.
His early career was disappointing. Manoeuvered out of a professorship at the Milan Conservatory which he had won in a competition, he took small-time jobs in small cities, and composed several operas, none successful at first. The turning point was the big success of the 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.
The following opera, I Lituani (The Lithuanians) (1874), was also well received, being performed later at Saint Petersburg (as Aldona - 20th November 1884). His best known opera is La Gioconda, which his librettist Arrigo Boito adapted from the play by Victor Hugo that had been previously set by Mercadante (Il Giuramento, 1837) and Carlos Gomes (Fosca, 1873). It was first produced in 1876 and revised several times. The version that has become so popular today was first given in 1880.
In 1876 he started working on I mori di Valenza (the project dates back to 1873), an opera he never finished, although it was completed later by Arturo Cadore and performed posthumously in 1914.
After La Gioconda, Ponchielli wrote the monumental biblical melodrama in four acts Il figliuol prodigo (Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 26th December 1880) and Marion Delorme, from another play by Victor Hugo (Milan, Teatro alla Scala, 17th March 1885). In spite of their rich musical invention, neither of these operas met with the same success but both exerted great influence on the composers of the rising generation, such as Puccini, Mascagni, and Giordano.
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.
He died on 17th January 1886 in Milan, and was interred there in the 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 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 other popularisations and parodies.
La Gioconda
Amilcare Ponchielli Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'La Gioconda' by these artists:
Basilio () La Gioconda () La Gioconda Una sombra, un recuerdo, un e…
Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti Cielo E Mar Cielo e mar! l?etereo velo …
We have lyrics for these tracks by Amilcare Ponchielli:
La Gioconda - Cielo e mar! Cielo e mar! L'etereo velo splende come un santo altar. L'an…
La Gioconda: "Cielo e mar" Cielo e mar! L'etereo velo Splende come un santo altar L'an…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@samschmit7181
The following lyrics are from an episode of Garfield and Friends:
Where's my meal? I am starving!
Start the cooking! Start the carving!
I eat breakfast as a habit.
This is quite a lovely meal, for a rabbit.
Make an omelette, make a waffle,
Though your cooking's really awful.
Make me pancakes, make me bacon.
If you think that I will eat this, you're mistaken.
@cyan5024
Hello Muddah, hello Faddah
Here I am at Camp Grenada
Camp is very entertaining
And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining
I went hiking with Joe Spivey
He developed poison ivy
You remember Leonard Skinner
He got Ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner
All the counsellors hate the waiters
And the lake has alligators
And the head coach wants no sissies
So he reads to us from something called Ulysses
Now I don't want this should scare ya'
But my bunkmate has Malaria
You remember Jeffery Hardy
They're about to organize a searching party
Take me home, oh Muddah, Faddah
Take me home, I hate Grenada
Don't leave me out in the forest where
I might get eaten by a bear
Take me home, I promise I will
Not make noise, or mess the house with
Other boys, oh please don't make me stay
I've been here one whole day
Dearest Fadduh, Darling Muddah
How's my precious little bruddah
Let me come home if you miss me
I would even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss me
Wait a minute, it's stopped hailing
Guys are swimming, guys are sailing
Playing baseball, gee that's bettah
Muddah, Faddah kindly disregard this letter
@retropixel1272
G r a n a d a Camp Grenada, BLEH!
Hello muddah, hello fadduh
I am back at Camp Grenada
And I'm writing you this letter
Just to say my compound fracture's getting better
No one here knows where my trunk is
And my bunk is where the skunk is
And the food this year's improving
All the little black things in it are not moving
Our camp nurse is quite a swimmer
She says swimming makes you slimmer
Her name's Mrs. Pellagrini
Have you ever seen a whale in a bikini?
All the bathrooms have such thin doors
Gee I'd wish they'd move them indoors
We're all tired of Mother Goose here
So next Friday night they're having Lenny Bruce here
Let me stay, oh muddah, fadduh
Let me stay I love Grenada
Every night the campfire's really keen
Oh ma please send some unguintine
Let me stay, out here in
Muddah nature's land
And tiptoe through the tulips grand
To leave would be a shame
Besides, I'd miss the poker game
Please don't worry, fadduh, muddah
I'll take care of little brudduh
He plays ball here and he rows here
And I hope they teach him how to blow his nose here
He wakes up half past six hand
Goes directly to the quicksand
He was lonely, now he's better
He's like all of us except his bed is wetter
@cookie9655
I've heard parts of this song so many time, never realized it was all from the same piece, never knew the title and I never knew the composer. Now finding it and seeing the title, listening fully, I feel so enlightened lol I know orgestra and classical music like this tends to tell a story, but it really blows my mind when I listen and I can almost SEE it. Truly genius.
@jewelmarkess
Dance of the Hours is actually a ballet within opera La Gioconda. If you haven't looked up yet, you can easily find the plot of La Gioconda. In case you haven't done it, the ballet itself doesn't tell a story, the Doge in Venice simply organizes a ballet for his guests' entertainment (after he ordered his wife to poison herself). I've even seen the video of full performances of La Gioconda here. There is also a version of the dance itself performed by students of the Vaganova ballet academy. It's quite beautiful.
@luissanabria4278
I spent 10 years looking forward the last part of this overture and finally I found it !
@leannsmarie
If anyone is here from the recent video by the Cut channel, the part of the song you're looking for is at the 2:02 mark. This melody was also used in a parody song recorded by Allan Sherman in 1965 called: "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)".
@swagrobloxgamer1531
I wasn't here because of that video, but I was still looking for that part. Thanks
@Translucent__Goodies
I was here from Chikin Nugget, thanks! I was also looking for this part!
@hscucarache4801
I love the camp Granada song!!!!
@brx1030
Also, find Nancy Sinatra & ''Like I Do'' 1962
@robertzinker7781
And featured in Walt Disney's 1940, "Fantasia."
@JediMcFly717
Whenever I hear this I think of Dancing Hippos! Thanks Fantasia!