Tone Poem Tuesday

It’s increasingly clear that this feature is really “Whatever piece of one-movement classical music I want”, because this isn’t a tone poem but rather a selection of ballet music from an opera. Specifically, the opera is La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli, and the ballet suite in question is the “Dance of the Hours”. This is one of the most familiar pieces of music in the classical repertoire, mainly for having been parodied by comedian Allan Sherman in his summer camp song “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh”. If you can manage to listen to the actual Ponchielli suite with fresh ears, it’s really a wonderful and evocative work of classical dance music.