At the time Wagner was living in exile in Zurich, on the run after his role in the 1849 revolution in Dresden. His article followed a series of essays in the NZM by his disciple Theodor Uhlig, attacking the music of Meyerbeer's opera "Le prophète" and depicting its composer as a representative of "Hebraic art-taste". Wagner was particularly enraged by the success of "Le prophète" in Paris, all the more so because he had earlier been an admirer of Meyerbeer, who had given him financial support and used his influence to get Wagner's early opera "Rienzi", his first real success, staged in Dresden in 1841.