in particular the influence of the music of Wagner. For some critics, the Wagnerian ethos and French sensibilities are simply incompatible, and consequently much of the music of Gwendoline and Briséïs has been denigrated; others have argued that Chabrier so transformed his influences that the music does not sound especially Wagnerian. Huebner puts the truth somewhere between the two, noting Wagner's influence in the similarities between Gwendoline and The Flying Dutchman and Tristan and Isolde, but noting Chabrier's "un-Wagnerian concision", the retention of conventional self-contained numbers, and Chabrier's recognisable melodic and instrumental characteristics. He suggests that preoccupation with supposed derivativeness has deprived the repertory of works such as Gwendoline "with substantial musical and dramatic interest". L'etoile, an opéra bouffe in three acts (1877) was Chabrier's first modestly successful opera, and is the most often revived. Although the plot was described by a reviewer in 2016 as "wilfully unfathomable and illogical", the libretto was professional and polished, in contrast with other libretti set by Chabrier. The critic Elizabeth Forbes calls the score, "light as thistle-down … in the best tradition of Offenbachian opéra bouffe, with each singer perfectly characterized in his or her music". Une éducation manquée (An Incomplete Education), a one-act opérette about a young couple seeking essential advice on their wedding night, received a single private performance in 1879, and was not performed in public until 1913. Forbes wrote in 1992, "Why this charming little work had to wait so many years for a public performance remains a total mystery. The subject is treated with the greatest delicacy… Musically, the piece is quite enchanting, in particular the central duet for the two high voices, while the bass has a fine comic number." Chabrier's only completed serious opera was Gwendoline, composed between 1879 and 1885 and premiered in 1886. Mendès's libretto was a liability: Henri Büsser commented that it lacked the verve and movement the composer needed; Poulenc was dismissive of "Mendès' ineptitudes … balderdash"; and another critic wrote in 1996, "Mendes's dramaturgy is not only painfully thin but takes a long time to get under way". Arnold and Nichols comment that the work is considerably less Wagnerian than has often been supposed: "certainly the modal, asymmetrical, loosely articulated theme of the overture is individual to a degree". The music satisfied neither the pro- nor anti-Wagner lobby: Chabrier commented, "The wagnérien calls me a reactionary and the bourgeois considers me