Programs · Episode

PONCHIELLI: La Gioconda

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, April 4, 2020 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

Ponchielli's masterpiece, a story of politics, passion and murder, is so over-the-top sensational that you can't help but love it — one of opera's most delicious "guilty pleasures." On At the Opera we'll explore the drama in a trio of recordings featuring three, sensational sopranos in the title role: Renata Tebaldi, Montserrat Caballé, and Maria Callas.

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

Even the most devoted fans of classical music generally acknowledge that classical tunes seldom rival the biggest popular hits when it comes to widespread familiarity. Yet there are some notable exceptions.

For example, just about everyone recognizes the "Canon in D" by Johann Pachelbel when they hear it. Many can even name the piece — "Wasn't that the Pachelbel Canon? Playing on the elevator?" — though they might not know what a canon is, or have any idea who Pachelbel was or when he lived. You can also find the piece on any number of top ten lists, along with other ubiquitous classics, such as the dramatic "O Fortuna" movement from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and the somber piece widely known as the "Albinoni Adagio."

But, exactly which lists do compositions such as those turn up on? And which lists would you put them on? The answer may depend on whether you're a "glass-half-empty" or "glass-half-full" sort of person. If you fall on the more negative end of that spectrum, you might put those pieces on a list most composers would try to avoid: a top-ten list of classical "one-hit wonders." After all, how many other hits can you name by Pachelbel, Orff or Albinoni?

Yet, on the positive side, those same works also appear on lists of "the greatest hits of all time," where you might find them right next to masterpieces such as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Handel's Messiah — and that's the sort of company any composer would be proud to keep.

Even so, it might be tempting to dismiss composers known as "one-hit wonders" as lesser lights — artists who never really made it to the big time. But didn't they? It's surely better to have written a single blockbuster than no hits at all. And Amilcare Ponchielli did just that and more, writing a single hit that's also an entire opera.

Ponchielli's La Gioconda is best known for one, catchy number — the "Dance of the Hours" from Act Three. (Remember the Allan Sherman song "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah"? Same tune.) Yet the opera includes at least one other hit number, the hair-raising soprano aria "Suicidio!" — an anguished monologue about suicide. And the opera as a whole has been a lasting hit, as well. It's a vivid drama of lust and murder so over-the-top sensational that you can't help but love it — one of opera's most delicious guilty pleasures.

On At the Opera, host Lisa Simeone takes us through Ponchielli's La Gioconda in recordings featuring three great sopranos in the title role. We'll hear Renata Tebaldi, in a 1967 recording from Rome that also features tenor Carlo Bergonzi. Also, a release from 1980, with soprano Montserrat Caballe starring with mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne and tenor Luciano Pavarotti. Then, for the opera's devastating final act, it's Maria Callas, recorded at La Scala in 1959, alongside the great mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cosotto.

FEATURED RECORDINGS:

Lamberto Gardelli, conductor

Orchestra and Chorus of the Santa Cecilia Academy, Rome
CAST: Renata Tebaldi (La Gioconda); Carlo Bergonzi (Enzo Grimaldo); Robert Merrill (Barnaba); Marilyn Horne (Laura); Nicolai Ghiuselev (Alvise Badoero); Oralia Dominguez (La Cieca)
(London 430042)

Bruno Bartoletti, conductor

National Philharmonic Orchestra; London Opera Chorus
CAST: Montserrat Caballé (La Gioconda); Luciano Pavarotti (Enzo Grimaldo); Sherrill Milnes (Barnaba); Agnes Baltsa (Laura); Nicolai Ghiaurov (Alvise Badoero); Alfreda Hodgson (La Cieca)
(Decca 414349)

Antonino Votto, conductor

Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Milan
CAST: Maria Callas (La Gioconda); Pier Miranda Ferraro (Enzo Grimaldo); Piero Cappuccilli (Barnaba); Fiorenza Cosotto (Laura); Ivo Vinco (Alvise Badoero); Irene Companeez (La Cieca)
(EMI 81854)

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