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{{Short description|Short ballet from Amilcare Ponchielli’s opera La Gioconda}}{{For|the Pirates of the Caribbean prequel novel|Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow: Dance of the Hours{{!}}Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow: Dance of the Hours}}{{italic title}}{{Listen|type=music|filename=Dance of the hours.ogg|title=Dance of the Hours|description=Violinist {{ill|João Pedro Cunha|pt}}, 2005}}File:Amilcare Ponchielli (before 1886) - Archivio Storico Ricordi FOTO000794 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|Amilcare PonchielliAmilcare PonchielliDance of the Hours (Italian: ) is a short ballet and is the act 3 finale of the opera La Gioconda composed by Amilcare Ponchielli. It depicts the hours of the day through solo and ensemble dances. The opera was first performed in 1876 and was revised in 1880. Later performed on its own, the Dance of the Hours was at one time one of the best known and most frequently performed ballets.Dance of the Hours Flutetunes.com, 2010-08-04. Accessed October 2010]New Jersey Symphony Orchestra {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716144437www.njsymphony.org/Programnotes/notes10.htm |date=2011-07-16 }} Program notes. January 2010. It became even more widely known after its inclusion in the 1940 Walt Disney animated film Fantasia where it is depicted as a comic ballet featuring ostriches, hippopotamuses, elephants and alligators.

Description

The ballet, accompanied by an orchestra, appears at the end of the third act of the opera, in which the character Alvise, who heads the Inquisition, receives his guests in a large and elegant ballroom adjoining the death chamber. The music and choreography represent the hours of dawn, day (morning), twilight and night. Costume changes and lighting effects reinforce the progression. The dance is intended to symbolize the eternal struggle between the forces of light and darkness. It is about 10 minutes long.

Structure

The piece begins with an introduction in G major, with vocal assistance in the form of a recitative which is omitted in the symphonic version. Then follows in sequence: the dance of the hours of dawn, the hours of day, the hours of the night and the morning.The episode devoted to dawn (in E major) merges with the extensive introduction to the episode dedicated to daytime hours, anticipating the rhythmic structure of four notes, which characterizes the episode. The transition point between the two episodes, where it marks the birth of the day, coincides with the intervention in fortissimo of the chorus (“”), which follows a slow chromatic passage, typical of Ponchielli’s style.After a brief episode in C{{music|#}} minor devoted to the night, based on figuration in staccato, a connected and expressive melody in E minor, played by cellos, introduces the morning. A new pathetic melody in A minor extends to a broad phrase with initial tone in E minor.A brief diminuendo precedes the attacca of the final coda in A major, a vigorous can-can in the manner of Romualdo Marenco’s {{Interlanguage link multi|Ballo Excelsior|it}} (1881), introduced by an abrupt change of tempo to allegro vivacissimo.

Derivative works

{{in popular culture|date=January 2023}}

• The tune is remembered by the character Leopold Bloom in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses (1922).{{’}}Ulysses{{’}} Annotated: Notes for James Joyce’s {{’}}Ulysses{{’}} by Don Gifford, Robert J. Seidman, University of California Press, 2008, {{ISBN|0-520-25397-3}}. p. 81
• Dance of the Hours is one of the most frequently parodied pieces of classical music. An extract was first used by the Walt Disney Animation Studios in one of their earliest cartoon series (Silly Symphonies).More Silly Symphonies: Volume Two Ultimate Disney. Accessed October 2010 The ballet was used in full in the Walt Disney animated film Fantasia (1940), albeit with ballet-dancing hippos (complete with tutus), ostriches, alligators and elephants including Madame Upanova, Hyacinth Hippo, Elephanchine, and Ben Ali Gator.BOOK, Walt Disney and Europe, Allan, Robin, 1999, Indiana University Press, 978-0-253-21353-2, 149,
• It was the source of the tune for the song “Like I Do”,BOOK, McAleer, Dave, Dave McAleer, The Omnibus Book of British and American Hit Singles, 1960–1990, Omnibus Press, 1990, 59, which was a hit in 1962 for Nancy Sinatra in Italy and Japan, Maureen Evans in the UK and Ireland, and Teresa Brewer in 1963 (as “She’ll Never Love You (Like I Do)“) in the USA.
• Dance of the Hours can be heard during the Slamacow’s Minecraft animation “Silly Endertainment”.
• Segments of the piece formed the basis for the Andrews Sisters song “Idle Chatter” (1952)BOOK, Sforza, John, 2000, Swing It!: The Andrews Sisters Story, Lexington, Kentucky, The University Press of Kentucky, 246, 0-8131-2136-1, written by Al Sherman.WEB,www.discogs.com/release/15939654-The-Andrews-Sisters-One-For-The-Wonder-Idle-Chatter, The Andrews Sisters – One For The Wonder / Idle Chatter, Discogs.org, May 25, 2023,
• The melody of Dance of the Hours was used by Allan Sherman in his biggest hit “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)” (1963), and its sequel “Return to Camp Granada” (1965).WEB,www.wrti.org/arts-desk/2019-08-05/the-music-behind-the-hit-summer-camp-song-hello-muddah-hello-fadduh, The Music Behind The Hit Summer Camp Song, ‘Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh’, Lewis, Susan, August 5, 2019, WRTI.org, May 25, 2023, This ballad also mentions James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, which references the same melody.
• Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon created a new rendition of Dance of the Hours for his ballet company, Morphoses. The work was featured in the company’s New York debut, in 2006 at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York.Dance of the Hours Morphoses dance company. World Premiere: September 26, 2006, The Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Opera House, New York. Accessed October 2010.

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• {{IMSLP|work=La Gioconda (Ponchielli, Amilcare)|cname=La Gioconda}}
• Full libretto of La Gioconda at Impressrio by Kernkonzepte, 2005
• {{YouTube|gmBF1bOlKOA|Girls’ ballet performance (2008)}}, choreography by Victoria Lyras

{{Disney’s Fantasia}}{{Authority control}}