Showing @ Festival Theatre, Edinburgh until Sat 9 Apr

Richard Strauss described Intermezzo – his semi-autobiographical comic opera – as a “bourgeois comedy with symphonic interludes”. And snappy though that isn’t, it’s still a perfect description of the piece. Look for depth in the storyline of this opera and you’ll struggle to find it, but depth there is: in the musical interludes or intermezzos which give the opera its title.

Rich, and occasionally hauntingly beautiful, the frequent interludes between the short scenes are where the concentration of Strauss’s musical genius went in composing Intermezzo. If the action on stage seemed silly or contrived, much of the time the interludes provided music which underscored the tragic consequences of petty jealously and domestic rancour.

Onstage, surrounded by a set designed by Manfred Kaderk, every inch of which was covered in the art of Gustave Klimt, the cast threw themselves into the comedic world of composer Robert Storch and his jealous and irrational wife Christine.

There’s little doubt that this is an unflattering portrayal of his wife by Strauss: shrill, shrewish, capricious and unsympathetic. It’s to soprano Anita Bader’s credit that what little warmth existed in the character, she was able to bring out, particularly in the tender scenes with her son. Comparing her role with the ridiculously flattering version of himself which Strauss gives to his alter ego, played here with bullish bravado by baritone Roland Wood, it’s clear that history really is in the hands of the writers.

Aside from the bickering composer and his spouse, the other central character in Intermezzo is the failed gigolo Baron Lummer who Christine meets on the ski slopes. Brilliantly played by tenor Nicky Spence, Lummer is a Germanic version of a P.G. Wodehouse character, an upper class oaf who could easily have been found throwing strudels in a Berlin version of the Drones club. His unsubtle wooing of Christine was one of the great pleasures of the night.

Intermezzo is a rarely performed opera – it’s been 25 years since Scottish Opera last took it on – and some would argue due to its form, it’s not even an opera at all. But it’s more than just a curiosity piece; it’s a strikingly entertaining and enjoyable spectacle – and despite a certain smugness and a light dusting of misogyny, it’s still got the capacity to delight. So the uniqueness of its form makes it a light and refreshing change from all the murders and mayhem of its more familiar operatic cousins.