Amilcare Ponchielli

Prominent figure in the history of 19th-century Italian music. Born in Paderno Fasolaro, now known as Paderno Ponchielli in his honor, Amilcare shows from a young age an extraordinary talent for music. His father is a primary school teacher and organist, and he learns the first rudimentary lessons of music from him. At 9 years old, he goes to study with Maestro Gorno of Casalbuttano, author of various symphonies that delighted organists and the faithful of our churches for half a century. 

There were several students who paid the Maestro two svanziche monthly: however, they were required to chop wood and transport the corn husks that the Church sent to the Maestro as a supplement to his organist salary. 

Amilcare was then admitted to the Conservatory of Milan, where he had as teachers, among others, Lauro Rossi, another street of Barriera that intersects Corso Vercelli perpendicularly. Ponchielli composes operas, ballets, marches, and over 150 compositions for band. La Gioconda remains his most famous masterpiece, (Scala, April 8, 1876). And it was in the staging of this opera — his favorite, because written "with the heart" — that, having gone to Piacenza in a harsh winter, he fell ill with a severe pneumonia that led to his death.

Amilcare Ponchielli played a significant role as an educator, training a generation of musicians and composers who would continue to shape the Italian musical scene. the chair of composition at the Conservatory of Milan, where Ponchielli had among his students Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Ettore Pozzoli. 

In the show In fila per 6 col resto di 2 you listened to Amilcare Ponchielli's Danza delle ore, taken from the opera La Gioconda.

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Perhaps not everyone knows that the 6th District hosts as many as 42 streets and squares named after great Italian musicians, composers, and conductors, giving rise to a very particular toponymic context. 

If we really want to proceed with a non-discriminatory project towards great musicians, we need to take two more steps towards the center until we reach Via Giuseppe Verdi and Via Gioacchino Rossini... being stars of international Lyrical Opera, we risk seriously offending them. 
In these years, we will discover together the 44 great musicians who bring to life a special neighborhood in Turin, they are all neighbors!

Let's start with Antonio Vivaldi, Amilcare Ponchielli, Niccolò Paganini, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Alessandro Scarlatti, Giacomo Puccini.

The project is realized thanks to the City of Turin.