Giuseppe Catrufo comments on the failure of his latest opera.

Three days after the premiere of his opera *L'Intrigue du Château* [Théâtre Feydeau, June 14, 1823], Giuseppe Catruffo placed the blame for the failure squarely on the librettist. "Your zeal and talent have sustained, as much as they could, the latest work you have presented: this is a testament I am pleased to offer you. Allow me to believe that you do me the same justice, and that you do not attribute to me a failure entirely attributable to the weakness of the poem. The music and the brilliant performance that brought it to life long averted the storm; the public applauded every movement; and this honorable acclaim is confirmed by most of the newspapers, each of which praised some of its favorite passages, so that no part of the score went unpraised." I confess, I regret that, convinced as you were of the poem's inadequacy, you thought you were doing me a favor by persisting in staging it [...]. You understand how cruel it is, after such a long wait, to lose in an instant, and through some outside fault, the fruit of one's labors and sleepless nights. It is from you, gentlemen, that I expect consolation [...]. This consolation, Catrufo expects in the form of a commitment to produce one of his two new operas. The first will be Clotaire. "It will be both a mark of goodwill towards me and an act of fairness to put this play into rehearsal as soon as possible for you, a play whose author is a distinguished man of letters already known for more than one great success. This opera, or that of Les Rencontres, would offer us both a sure revenge by staging one of the two [...]." [The opera Les Rencontres was created five years later, at the Théâtre Feydeau, on June 11, 1828; as for Clotaire, it is unknown whether it was performed].