Even by opera’s standards the plot of Amilcare Ponchielli’s La Gioconda (1876) requires a great deal of indulgence on the part of the viewer. The libretto, written by Arrigo Boito under his pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio (an anagram) and loosely based on a Victor Hugo play, revels in extreme emotions and actions without troubling itself too much with logic.

It’s impossible to forget Wagner’s comment about Meyerbeer, whose grand French operas – particularly those with libretti by Scribe – provided a template for La Gioconda. “Effects without causes” was Wagner’s putdown and the witticism could be applied to La Gioconda.

It’s true the principal figures have impulses rather than well-defined characters, that the plot hurtles from one implausibility to the next and that spectacle seems to be there for the sake of sensation rather than necessity. La Gioconda nevertheless hangs on to its place in the repertoire.

Opera Australia’s concert performance, while obviously short on spectacle, shows why.

Jonas Kaufmann in Opera Australia’s La Gioconda. Photo © Keith Saunders

The lavish score is studded with impassioned numbers for soloists, duos and trios. The ensembles are exciting, the dance music wonderful and a large...