Amilcare Ponchielli was born on August 31, 1834 in the family of a church musician near Cremona, Italy. He received a scholarship at age 9 to study at the Milan Conservatory and composed his first symphony before he was 10. Two years after graduating from the Conservatory, he wrote his first opera "The Betrothed", establishing his fame as an opera composer. His most famous opera is "La Gioconda" (1876). Since 1883, he was composition professor at the Milan Conservatory, that introduced G. Puccini and P. Mascani to the world. He died in Milan on January 17, 1886. For clarinetists, he also famously composed "Il Convegno" for clarinet duet.
The cheerful Gioconda has a blind mother (La Cieca) of strong faith. Barnaba (Spy of the Inquisition Secretary Alvise), who has a crush on Gioconda but is put on his sleeve, suspects Cieca as a witch. Alvise's wife Laura helps her to be accused of being a witch. However, Laura was robbed by Alvise from Gioconda's lover Enzo and even took her land. Gioconda mourns the betrayal by her lover, but forgives when she finds out Laura ultimately aided her mother.
On the other hand, Laura is given poison by her husband when she tries to escape with her former lover Enzo, and is told to kill herself. Gioconda appears and gives Laura a potion that puts her to sleep. Alvise sees his fallen wife and thinks she is dead.
After this, a ball is held and the ballet "Danza dell' Ore (Dance of the Hours)'' is played. Enzo slips into the ball and accuses Alvise of stealing Enzo slips into the ball and accuses Alvise of stealing Enzo's property and killing his lover but is captured.
Gioconda tells Barnaba if she can let go of Enzo, she can take Gioconda instead. Gioconda brings Laura from the grave while deciding what to do with her. But Gioconda eventually decides to sacrifice herself. After successfully letting the two go, Barnaba appears. Gioconda, worried for her mother's safety, commits suicide with a dagger. Angry Barnaba shouts that she drowned Cieca in the canal but Gioconda can no longer hear it.
"Danza dell' Ore (Dance of the Hours)" is performed in the scene of the ball in Act 3. It seems that it was inserted, but not in the libretto, a custom of opera composition at that time.
The original consists of "Le ore dell'aurora, Sortono le ore del giorno", "Danza delle ore del giorno", "Sortono le ore della sera", "Sortono le ore della notte", and "Finale", but in this arrangement, I used "Sortono le ore del giorno" and "Sortono le ore della notte" with large edits to be within five minutes in total and reconstructed it to suit the quintet sound.
(Satoshi Kobayashi)
