As Wagner prospered , it became second @-@ nature for him , his wife Cosima and the Wagner circle to deprecate Meyerbeer and his works , and Cosima 's Diaries contain numerous instances of this – ( as well as recording a dream of Wagner 's in which he and Meyerbeer was reconciled ) . Wagner 's autobiography ' Mein Leben ' , circulated amongst his friends ( and published openly in 1911 ) , contain constant sniping at Meyerbeer and conclude with Wagner exulting over Meyerbeer 's death . The downgrading of Meyerbeer became a commonplace amongst Wagnerites : in 1898 , George Bernard Shaw , in The Perfect Wagnerite , commented that " Nowadays young people cannot understand how anyone could have taken Meyerbeer 's influence seriously . "