NZM had a very small circulation—no more, in JM Fischer's estimate, than 1500–2000 readers.Fischer, 2000, p. 30 Virtually the only response was a letter of complaint to Franz Brendel, the editor of NZM, from Mendelssohn's old colleague Ignaz Moscheles and ten other professors at the Leipzig Conservatory, requesting that Brendel resign from the Conservatory's board.Conway (2012), p. 194 (Brendel had taught music history at the Conservatory since 1846.) Apart from Moscheles' letter, Fischer has found virtually no other substantial response. The article, which Wagner had hoped would be a sensation, and bring him some money as a journalist, sank like a stone. Nearly all of Wagner's associates, including Liszt, were embarrassed by the article and thought it was a passing phase or a mere fit of pique.Conway (2012), 264.
