As we have already mentioned, the rhythm of Verdi's creative life slowed down after Ballo, and was eventually counted in decades. For the next forty years and more, Verdi remained in public opinion the composer of Nabucco, Ernani, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Il Trovatore. These operas continued to be performed, and were invariably given the warmest possible welcome. But the younger generation criticised him for not being influenced by foreign music, for not regarding himself as a part of the European tradition. With the sole exception of the last two operas, nothing Verdi wrote during this long period responded adequately to these people's demands. The three operas which followed Ballo represented a crisis for both the public and the critics: they were too complicated and even abstruse for the former, yet the latter saw them as tied to ancient, worn-out conventions. Aida and the Requiem made both groups alter their opinions, while Otello and Falstaff were an apotheosis, something so overwhelming as to submerge almost everything which had gone before. By today's standards these opinions are, of course, unacceptable and equivocal, but they fall neatly into place in the context of the late nineteenth century's delight in polemics, and its superficial manners.