it was first performed at a concert of the société nationale de musique on 27 may 1899, conducted by the composer. it had a mixed reception, with boos mingling with applause from the audience, and unflattering reviews from the critics. one described the piece as "a jolting debut: a clumsy plagiarism of the russian school" and called ravel a "mediocrely gifted debutant... who will perhaps become something if not someone in about ten years, if he works hard." this critic was "willy", henri gauthier-villars, who later became an admirer of ravel. the composer assimilated willy's criticism, describing the overture as "a clumsy botch-up", and recognising that it was "quite heavily dominated by the influence of russian music" ("assez fortement dominé par l'influence de la musique russe"). another critic, pierre lalo, thought that ravel showed talent, but was too indebted to debussy and should instead emulate beethoven.