 After "La Gioconda", Ponchielli wrote the monumental biblical melodrama in four acts "Il figliuol prodigo" given in Milan at La Scala on 26 December 1880 and "Marion Delorme", from another play by Victor Hugo, which was presented at La Scala on 17 March 1885.In spite of their rich musical invention, neither of these operas met with the same success but both exerted great influence on the composers of the rising generation, such as Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni and Umberto Giordano.In 1881, Ponchielli was appointed "maestro di cappella" of the Bergamo Cathedral, and from the same year he was a professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory, where among his students were Puccini, Mascagni and Emilio Pizzi.