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Alison Hill
MUS - 223
Southern New Hampshire University
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In the 1800's, operatic ballet had become popular. Operatic Ballet is a genre where opera
and ballet were combined for lyric theatre. Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli was first
performed in 1876, as part of an opera called La Gioconda which means The Joyful Girl. This
particular scene takes place in Act III. Ponchielli was without a doubt an admired Italian opera
composer of the time between Giuseppe Verdi and Puccini (Chandler, 2015) (Hollywood Bowl
100, 2022) (Schwarm, 2018).
This style of music has a less complicated texture than Baroque, and enjoys more
homophonic melodies. There is also more contrast, changes, and variety than in what we hear in
Baroque. There is much emphasis on beauty and elegance within the piece, and there is an
extraordinary balance between elements. In the beginning we can see how there is variety and
elegance. There are few instruments in the very beginning, including violin, oboe, and clarinets.
There is a tiptoeing feeling, as if the instruments are just now gathering to start playing together
Then more start to slowly join in, the tempo increases a bit, and it gets a little louder. Then
tension is built up for a few second before the release at 1:06. Here, there are beautiful
harmonies, the dynamics get louder, and it feels like you can breathe again after the tension.
(Bartmans, Bartje, 2018)
Again, this work was originally part of the opera La Gioconda, and was part of Act III,
scene 2. It was first performed in Milan on April 8, 1876. This part was the finale of Ponchielli's
most successful opera. Later on, it would come to be performed as a stand-alone orchestral work
The title is a sneak peek into what the piece is about. This piece was meant to convey a certain
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imagery, meaning that it is program music. It was meant to represent the different hours of the
day.
The piece is divided into five different parts, the dawn, day, dusk, night, and once again
the day. In the beginning we hear the dawn being introduced by beautiful arpeggios on the harp
and then joined by the strings. Woodwind instruments then play around for a bit introducing the
melody for the daytime. The melody for the daytime is a well-known part of the piece. Once the
sun starts to set, signaling that it has turned to dusk the mood changes a bit. The wind
instruments create a new staccato rhythm which helps us identify the dusk imagery. For a short
moment after that the melody returns to that of the daytime. There is another transition here,
from short notes to elongated and smooth notes. The cello is the star in this portion, with its
round and lower notes playing out the melody for the night. Nighttime has the most time to
express itself, and then there is a key change which