It's all so relative isn't it.  While wallowing in the sounds of Puccini's
"Ill Trittico," (esp.  Suor Angelica, whose melodies lie upon the ear like
the voice of an old friend), it was so heartbreaking to read in the liner
notes that Puccini was very concerned his music might not be modern
(artistic) enough, and that he would only be known as a composer of
"popular" music.  Opera as popular music....

Look at the last lines of "Gianni Schicchi" spoken by Schicchi:

   "For this prank, they sent me to hell, and so be it; but, with
    the permission of the great old man Dante, if you've been
    entertained this evening, allow me extenuating circumstances."

With "Trittico," finished in 1918, after such progressive works such as
Schoenberg's "Erwartung," (1909), Strauss' "Solome" and "Elektra" (1905
and 1909, and Stravinsky's "Rite," (1913), it's hard not to believe that
Puccini was speaking of himself.

John Smyth, humbly granting Puccini extenuating circumstances!