I totally disagree about Barkouf : is an absolute masterpiece. I was at the premiere in Strasbourg in 2018 (1st time it was played since jan. 1861), and was amazed by the musical language, far more complex that any other works (excepted maybe pieces like Fantasio), and it contains the longest finale of his whole operatic production : the 2nd act finale is almost 40 minutes long.

The social and political satire is really clever and extremely strong (the piece was at first censored for a long time because of that, furthermore Scribe and Boisseaux had to reduce the plot from 4 to 3 acts…).
It was Offenbachs 1st attempt at the Opéra-Comique, which was shot down in flames by critics and the vast majority of the public who didn’t want to have a “little operetta composer” played in an institution like the Opéra-Comique. The public was slightly different at the Opéra-Comique, way more posh than in the Bouffes-Parisiens. He was deeply touched by this fail, and waited until 1867 to compose again for the Opéra-Comique.