# An Opera Critic Responds To My Note



## Xavier (Jun 7, 2012)

Max Loppert, one of the critics from Opera magazine, responded to my note where I briefly criticized his review that compared Dukas's _Ariane et Blubeard_ to Debussy's _Pelleas et Melisande_. This is the same gentleman who said that _Penelope_ and _Padmavati_ also were..... *"key 20th-century operatic masterpieces on a par with Pelleas"*

Here is his message:



> My attention has been drawn, by a kind friend (or was he being slightly malicious? hmmm), to this extremely lively conversational response to my DVD review of the Liceu's "Ariane et Barbe-bleue" production in the current issue of Opera. I was particularly fascinated by the comment of the curiously named Genevieve's Castle Room above:
> 
> "By the way, Dukas was one of Messiaen's teachers. If Ariane was even nearly as great as Pelleas wouldn't he have written something about it?"
> 
> Genevieve has obviously been sequestered too long up there in that (obviously ill-lit) Allemonde castle room, otherwise she would surely know that Messiaen did indeed write a magnificent long essay-analysis of his teacher's opera. (Debussy, who was a friend of Dukas's, was also an admirer of "Ariane", as Dukas was of "Pelléas" -- I wonder whether poor Genevieve knows that?) The Messiaen essay is titled 'Ariane et Barbe-bleue de Paul Dukas', was first published in La Revue musicale, 166 (1936), 79-86, and is reprinted in "Olivier Messiaen : Journalism 1935-1939″, edited by Stephen Broad (p. 16 et seq.). Genevieve should read it: she might learn a thing or two -- and she obviously needs to -- about Dukas's masterpiece.




NOTE: *'Genevieve's Castle Room'* is my pseudonym on other opera forums.

Here is my response to Mr. Loppert:



> Thanks for your note. As a matter fact I'm intimately familiar with the work and have owned the Armin Jordan for years. I've also read about Debussy's admiration for Dukas's opera. Still, it is so very clear to me that _Ariane_ is nothing but a good opera by a second-tier composer. And I think it's absurd to rank it so highly alongside "Pelleas" which is *one of the LANDMARK operas (remember those?).... a masterpiece sui generis.*



You can the entire thread here (Mine is the first post on the first page):

http://parterre.com/2013/07/28/hoop-dreams/comment-page-1/#comments

I know there are other more important things to worry about today but I still find it mildly _depressing_ that almost nobody (from other forums) has questioned his strange opinion of these operas. In fact, several members concurred with Loppert's assessment if you could believe it.

It really makes you wonder how many people understand and truly love _Pelleas et Melisande_.


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