He was put into a ballet by a Portuguese composer and made the butt of a French opera bouffe writer, J.J.Debillement, in 1871.

He recurs to my mind now in connection with a witty fling at "Nabucco" made by a French rhymester when Verdi's opera was produced at Paris in 1845.

The noisy brass in the orchestration offended the ears of a critic, and he wrote: Vraiment l'affiche est dans son tort; En faux, ou devrait la poursuivre.
Pourquoi nous annoncer Nabuchodonos--or Quand c'est Nabuchodonos--cuivre?
Judas Maccabaeus is one of the few heroes of ancient Israel who have survived in opera, Rubinstein's "Makkabaer" still having a hold, though not a strong one, on the German stage.

The libretto is an adaptation by Mosenthal (author also of Goldmark's "Queen of Sheba") of a drama by Otto Ludwig.

In the drama as well as some of its predecessors some liberties have been taken with the story as told in Maccabees II, chapter 7.