Even among Dukas' relatively small, self-circumscribed output, Ariane et Barbe-Bleu is considered a masterwork. It is also considered one of the two supremely outstanding French operas of the twentieth century—the other one being Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. Both operas take their librettos practically wholesale from plays by the contemporary master Symbolist, Maurice Maeterlinck, and musically follow that author's penchant for understatement and suggestion. Both operas, though "anti-Wagnerian" in concept, are undeniably indebted to Wagnerian techniques, and bear hallmarks of musical Impressionism.

Dukas' opera, however, is not an emulation of Debussy's, even though it often seems to be about to veer into Debussy-ism. At one point this is absolutely intentional: when Ariane calls to Mélisande in Act II, the theme from Act I, scene 3 of Pelléas et Mélisande. The rich harmony and orchestration also keep tending towards sounding like Mussorgsky, Richard Strauss, and Wagner himself. The centrality and self-possession of Ariane in Maeterlinck's 1901 play carry over to the opera, and differ significantly from the more short-phrased dialogues of Pelléas et Mélisande. Indeed, Barbe-Bleu gets decidedly short shrift. After Ariane, the only other important part is that of La Nourrice (the nurse), and she mainly functions as a medium for the self-expression of the title character.

The influence of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande is quite well noted. Much less is said about Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-Bleu. Its harmony and orchestration were widely respected, and its influence particularly on musical Expressionism was great, particularly with Schreker, Schoenberg, and Berg. Bartók's 1911 opera A Kékszakállú Herceg Vára (Bluebeard's Castle) uses a libretto based on the Maeterlinck play, though significantly altered and simplified. Many have detected the spirit of Richard Strauss and Dukas in the sumptuous orchestral music accompanying the openings of the seven locked doors in Bartók's opera.

Although the performance at the premiere of Ariane et Barbe-Bleu at the Opéra-Comique on May 10, 1907, was less than ideal, it certainly didn't have all the difficulties that had beset Pelléas et Mélisande five years earlier. For one thing, Maeterlinck's wife, Georgette Leblanc, did get to sing the title female role in Dukas' opera—a fact that couldn't have hurt it from that author's point of view. Subsequent performances improved, and the opera went on to enjoy more than modest success, both in France and other countries. In 1935, months after Dukas' death, it entered the repertory of the Paris Opéra at the famed Palais Garnier.

© Neil Cardew-Fanning, Rovi