 The piece has rarely been performed since its premiere in 1922, although the composer Ernest Walker thought it was Holst's finest work to that date.The influential critic Ernest Newman considered "The Perfect Fool" "the best of modern British operas", but its unusually short length (about an hour) and parodic, whimsical nature—described by "The Times" as "a brilliant puzzle"—put it outside the operatic mainstream.Only the ballet music from the opera, which "The Times" called "the most brilliant thing in a work glittering with brilliant moments", has been regularly performed since 1923.