Carlo Goldoni was a comedy writer so prolific – with more than 150 plays to his name, plus several dozen libretti – that our own Sir Alan Ayckbourn (72 plays so far, and rising) looks costive in comparison. Garsington has in the past delighted audiences with two Haydn operas for which he supplied the words, Il mondo della luna and La pescatrici (which is being given this year by Bampton Opera on July 17 and 18). Now, in its 20th year, the festival offers a third in the British premiere of Bohuslav Martinu’s Mirandolina.

The production marks the 50th anniversary of the work’s composition, to Martinu’s own libretto, and of the Czech composer’s death, which occurred three months after its premiere in Prague. It is performed in a witty, up-to-the-minute English translation by Jeremy Sams, which adds hugely to its intelligibility and fun.

The opera supplies a faithful, if nessessarily abbreviated, version of Goldoni’s La locandiera (The innkeeper). One of his most consistently popular plays, it was performed at Windsor Castle in 1894, with the Italian star Eleanora Duse in the title role. One wonders what Queen Victoria made of a hostess heroine whose easy intercourse (social only!) with the upper classes might have provided the template for Rosa Lewis of The Cavendish Hotel, a favourite person and place with the scapegrace Prince of Wales.

If not amused, she was probably alone in this, for the story is an entertaining one whose warmth and charm is significantly enhanced by the tuneful, joyous music added by Martinu (and expertly interpreted at Garsington under conductor Martin André).

In short, hotelier Mirandolina, superbly sung here by Colombian-born soprano Juanita Lascarro, is being squabbled over by a pair of foppish admirers, the spectacularly rich and generous Count of Albafiorita (tenor Mark Wilde) and the much poorer (and meaner) Marquess of Forlimpopoli (bass-baritone Andrew Slater). Then along comes the Cavaliere of Ripafratta (baritone Geoffrey Dolton), a man resolutely resistant to the charms of women – a state of affairs that can not go unchallenged by the feisty hostess. Alas, once roused by her over dinner – a repast set to some of the loveliest music in the (for its time) surprisingly easy-on-the-ear score – the bookish Cavaliere becomes the very devil in pursuit of her.

Meanwhile, further pointed comedy built around the class system is supplied by a pair of actresses (soprano Mary Hegarty and mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby) who pass themselves off as titled ladies. The vulgarity of their taste in clothes – as revealed in colourful pantomime dame creations from designer Francis O’Connor – soon dishes that pretence. Eventually, the ‘proper’ social order is re-established when Mirandolina, remembering her place at last (phew!), settles for the hand of faithful servant Fabrizio, who is winningly portrayed by Oxford-based tenor Daniel Norman.

Until July 5. Tel: 01865 361636.