 Dukas, who knew Debussy well, actually borrowed three bars from Debussy's opera to accompany the first mention of Mélisande, although the character is minor in Dukas' opera.Ariane takes her name from the legend of Ariadne and the Cretan labyrinth, although she combines the roles of both Ariadne and Theseus, who freed the captive Athenian virgins from the Minotaur just as Ariane liberates—or tries to liberate—the wives from Bluebeard.It received its first performance at the Opéra Comique in Paris, on 10 May 1907.