 It even pleased critics who had expressed hostility to his musical style during the Querelle des Bouffons (an argument over the relative merits of French and Italian opera).Melchior Grimm called it a "sublime work" and even Rameau's bitter enemy Jean-Jacques Rousseau referred to it as "divine".The reason for this praise may be because these critics saw "Platée", a comic opera, paving the way for the lighter form of "opera buffa" they favoured.