Amilcare Ponchielli (* August 31 or September 1, 1834 in Paderno Fasolaro (today Paderno Ponchielli; named after him) near Cremona; † January 16 or January 17, 1886 in Milan) was an Italian composer and music educator.
His most successful opera was, and still is, La Gioconda, which can be found on the schedules of many opera houses and festivals.
At the age of nine, Ponchielli began his training at the Milan Conservatory, which he successfully completed in 1854. He then worked in Cremona as organist of the Church of St. Hilarius and as maestro sostituto (second conductor) at the ''Teatro della Concordia''. He had a personal friendship with Ruggero Manna (1808-1864), the cathedral and opera conductor of Cremona.
On September 17, 1856, the opera ''I Promessi Sposi'', which Ponchielli had written together with the librettists Giuseppe Aglio and Cesare Stradivari, was premiered in Cremona. Alfredo Colombani reported in the ''Gazzetta Musicale di Milano:'' "The success was already apparent during the overture; it received such lively applause that the maestro was immediately called on stage several times.
Two other premieres (''Beltrando di Bormio'' in Turin and ''La Savoiarda'' in Cremona), however, were unsuccessful; Ponchielli got into financial difficulties. From 1861 to 1874, he directed the ''Banda della Guardia Nazionale'' in Piacenza, a wind orchestra for which he wrote two new compositions a month - more than 150 works in all. Despite the degrading working conditions, he conscientiously fulfilled his artistic mission. In 1874, he settled in Milan; on June 26 he married the soprano Teresina Brambilla (1845-1921), who had sung Lucia in the revival of the ''Promessi Sposi'' - textually reworked by Emilio Praga - at the ''Teatro Dal Verme''.
In 1881, Amilcare Ponchielli became cathedral conductor in Bergamo, and in 1883 professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory. He was a respected and popular teacher. Among his students were Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni. In his memoirs, Mascagni describes Ponchielli as a kind, disinterested patron and advisor.
Ponchielli is best known today for his music to the opera La Gioconda; the allegorical ballet interlude from Act 3, the Dance of the Hours, achieved wish-granting popularity. The libretto of La Gioconda was written by Arrigo Boito. It is based on the drama Angelo, tyran de Padoue, first performed in Paris in 1835, by the French romanticist Victor Hugo, whose stage works inspired numerous librettists and composers to write their own works.
In 1892, a monument to Ponchielli was erected in Cremona.