In describing the works of the opposing school, Clara Schumann was particularly scathing of Wagner, writing of his "Tannhäuser", that he "wears himself out in atrocities", describing "Lohengrin" as "horrible", and referring to "Tristan und Isolde" as "the most repugnant thing I have ever seen or heard in all my life". She also complained that Wagner had spoken of her husband, Mendelssohn, and Brahms in a "scornful" way. Wagner had poked fun at the musical conservatives in an essay, portraying them as "a musical temperance society" awaiting a Messiah. She held Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony in very low esteem and wrote to Brahms, describing it as "a horrible piece". Bruckner's symphonies were seen as representative of the New Music due to their advanced harmony, massive orchestration and extended time-scale. Schumann was more impressed, however, with the early First Symphony in F minor by Richard Strauss; this was before Strauss began composing the highly programmatic music for which he later became famous.