PONCHIELLI : LA GIOCONDA

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 4th of September 2016 at 6 - 9 pm
PONCHIELLI: La Gioconda, an opera in four acts, with libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Victor Hugo's play Angelo, Tyrant of Padua. An archival performance from 1979
La Gioconda................ Renata Scotto
Enzo Grimaldo............ Luciano Pavarotti
Alvise Badoero............ Ferruccio Furlanetto
Barnaba........................ Norman Mittelmann
La Cieca....................... Margarita Lilova
Zuane........................... John Del Carlo
Isepo............................ Tonio Di Paolo
Laura Adorno.............. Stefania Toczyska
San Francisco Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Bruno Bartoletti

 Sunday 8th of July 2012 at 3 - 6 pm

PONCHIELLI: La Gioconda, an opera in four acts
Gioconda...................... Eva-Maria Westbroek
Laura Adorno............... Luciana D'Intino
La Cieca....................... Elena Cassian
Enzo Grimaldo.............. Riccardo Massi
Barnaba........................ Alberto Gazale
Alvise Badoero............. Luiz-Ottavio Faria
Zuane/Boatman/Pilot..... Lars Terray
Isepo/Boatman.............. Paul O'Neill
Singer/Barnaboto.......... Palle Fuhr Jorgensen
National Children's Choir, Netherlands Radio Chorus & Phil
Bruno Bartoletti  
(recorded in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam 
by Radio Nederland)

INTRODUCTION
COMPOSER
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO (English translation)
LIBRETTO (pdf)

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 4th of December 2011 at 3.03 - 6 pm
PONCHIELLI: La Gioconda, an opera in four acts
La Gioconda................. Violeta Urmana
Adorno......................... Luciana D'Intino
Badoero........................ Roberto Scandiuzzi
La Cieca....................... Elisabetta Fiorillo
Grimaldo....................... Plácido Domingo
Barnaba........................ Lado Ataneli
Zuàne............................ Paolo Battaglia
Isèpo............................ Kristian Benedikt
Pilot.............................. Tim Hennis
Barnabite...................... Wolfgang Klose
Bavarian Radio Chorus, Munich Children's Chorus,
Munich Radio Orch/Marcello Viotti (EMI 5 57451)

OPERA WONK dates back to the 23rd day of December 2006, so it has been operating for five years, (almost ten years already, 4/9/2016) and yet in that time the Ponchielli blockbuster had not been broadcast on Radio NZ, and so there had been no occasion for analysing and appreciating it. I have just taken a close look at the Operawonk prelude again, and you might like to re-read it and see whether this website is fulfilling its mission statement. One thing is not mentioned there: advertising. The only adverting I do is to operas being broadcast on radio in NZ, including local radio in Palmerston North, and I am promoting John Ward's nightly opera presentations on a special Gramophone Room page, which is advertised (in the neutral sense, devoid of sales promotion) in the sidebar. Personally speaking, I do not like being bombarded with commercial adverts, and I am resisting the temptation to introduce what they call "AdSense" to my four Google sites; but if any such intrusions suddenly pop up, you may send me a sharp rebuke, or assume that I have suddenly been reduced to abject poverty and desperately need the money.


Here it is, back again, in July 2012. In December 2011, this opera was being broadcast to introduce a week of 'one-hit wonders'. It is the composer's only successful opera, and its brief ballet (The Dance of the Hours) is an all-time favourite. The first performance of the opera was in 1876 in Milan, and was favourably received. But why did this Italian opera include a ballet? Because it was copying Meyerbeer's French style.

The recording I own consists of three Decca 12-inch vinyl discs; the cast is Caballé, Pavarotti, Ghiaurov, Baltsa, Milnes, and lurking at the bottom of the list as Barnabotto a priest, is our own Reverend Rodney Macann, Baptist minister. This time it is Plácido Domingo. Note that the tenor has the role of Enzo Grimaldo, and Caruso included it in his repertoire.

When I visited the Louvre art gallery in Paris on a Sunday afternoon many summers ago,  I was frequently accosted by signposts pointing the way to La Joconde. We have a word jocund, meaning 'cheerful', but I could not find 'jocond' in my French dictionaries; La Joconde must be a transcription of Italian La Gioconda, ' the Joyous (woman)'. In Paris it refers to da Vinci's [coded?] Mona Lisa (very mysterious), and I did not find her till closing time, and the shock is that she is so petite! In this opera Gioconda is the name of a humble street-singer.  Incidentally, the opera is based on a play by Victor Hugo.

Giuseppe Verdi admired Amilcare Ponchielli and Ponchielli was the teacher of Giacomo Puccini. The librettist of La Gioconda was a certain (or uncertain?) Tobia Gorrio, who was also a composer of operas, and wrote two libretti for Verdi. This pseudonym is an anagram of Arrigo Boito!