Tag Archives: La Gioconda

Finale 34 – Act III La Gioconda

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th June 2022

During the nearly half century that followed the premiere of Verdi’s Nabucco only two Italian operas not by Verdi entered the standard operatic repertoire – so complete was his dominance. The two survivors are Boito’s Mefistofele and Ponchielli’s La Gioconda. Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-86) was born in a small town near Cremona. He studied at the…

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Cielo e Mar

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th October 2017

Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-86) is best known for his opera La Gioconda. This work is one of opera’s guilty pleasures. It’s libretto is so embarrassingly florid that Arrigo Boito who wrote it after a play by Victor Hugo couldn’t bring himself to put his name to it, so he rearranged the 11 letters of his first…

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