Italian composer Amilcare Ponchielli wrote a number of operas. Already as a student, he co-wrote an operetta called Il Sindaco Babbeo. His greatest triumph, bringing almost instant acclaim around the world, was La Gioconda. Nothing he wrote afterwards matched either its acceptance or its overall strength.

However, even those who know little or nothing of opera or even classical music might recognize the balletic music of "Dance of the Hours" from this opera. It stands by itself as part of the classical repertoire and was immortalized by dancing hippopotomi and crocodiles in Walt Disney's Fantasia.