In the evening we went to the new opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges. The very beginning is rather painful, also the coffeepot, but when the armchairs get going it is very good, in fact there is much that is excellent, like the cats' duet and the attack on the arithmetic teacher by the harp and the numbers, the lamb, and many other places where Ravel has contrived a mass of inventive effects. Alongside these delights must be set the melancholy appearance of the book, the highly dubious taste of the ballet and a good many other failings: in short the production was very uneven. But the orchestration is enchanting. I heard that Auric - who detests and despises Ravel - was given the job of reviewing the opera by some newspaper or other, and did not know how to extricate himself from the situation. All the same, Auric should count himself lucky if he could orchestrate half as well as Ravel.