Content: Drama in four acts. 'La Gioconda' by Amilcare Ponchielli, with a libretto by Arrigo Boito, is the only Italian opera, along with Boito's 'Mefistofele', not written by Verdi that remains in the repertoire of scores created between the premiere of Donizetti's 'Don Pasquale' (1843) and the emergence of the 'Giovane Scuola' including Puccini and the verists. The title encompasses the best styles of its time: strong Verdi influences in melodies, typical choral passages of Venetian popular music, soliloquies with touches of Mussorgsky or Tchaikovsky, Wagnerian orchestration, dances and characteristics of French Grand Opera, and a finale that anticipates the verismo-naturalism repertoire. Overall, it presents a highly attractive masterpiece.