' (''Rienzi, the last of the
tribune
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...
s'';
WWV 49) is an 1842
opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
by
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
in five acts, with the
libretto
A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...
written by the composer after
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (; 25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secr ...
's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Rienzi'' . Written between July 1838 and November 1840, it was first performed at the
Königliches Hoftheater Dresden, on 20 October 1842, and was the composer's first success.
The opera is set in Rome and is based on the life of
Cola di Rienzo
Nicola di Lorenzo Gabrini (1313 8 October 1354), commonly known as Cola di Rienzo () or Rienzi, was an Italian politician and leader, who styled himself as the "tribune of the Roman people".
During his lifetime, he advocated for the unificatio ...
(1313–1354), a late
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
Italian populist figure who succeeds in outwitting and then defeating the nobles and their followers and in raising the power of the people. Magnanimous at first, he is forced by events to crush the nobles' rebellion against the people's power, but popular opinion changes and even the Church, which had urged him to assert himself, turns against him. In the end the populace burns the
Capitol, in which Rienzi and a few adherents have made a last stand.
Composition history

''Rienzi'' is Wagner's third completed opera, and is mostly written in a
grand opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and Orchestra, orchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on o ...
style. In his 1860 essay "
Music of the Future," Wagner called it "a work full of youthful fire" which was inspired by "the heroic opera of
Spontini" and the Parisian grand opera of
Daniel Auber
Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (; 29 January 178212 May 1871) was a French composer and director of the Paris Conservatoire.
Born into an artistic family, Auber was at first an amateur composer before he took up writing operas professionally whe ...
,
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart and Richard Wa ...
, and
Fromental Halévy
Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy (; 27 May 179917 March 1862), was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera ''La Juive''.
Early career
Halévy was born in Paris, son of the cantor ...
. ''Rienzis depictions of the mob, the liberal ethos associated with the hero and the political intervention of a reactionary clergy recall Spontini's ''
La vestale'' (1807), Halévy's ''
La Juive
''La Juive'' (, ) is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra National de Paris, Opéra de Paris, on 23 February 1835.
Composition history
''La Juive'' ...
'' (1835), and Meyerbeer's ''
Les Huguenots
() is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836.
Composition history
'' ...
'' (1836). Each act ends with an extended finale ensemble and is replete with solos, duets, trios and crowd scenes. There is also an extended
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
in act 2 according to the accepted Grand Opera format.
Hans von Bülow
Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (; 8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for establishi ...
was later to joke that "''Rienzi'' is Meyerbeer's best opera".
Wagner began to draft the opera in
Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
in 1837, after reading Lytton's novel (although
John Deathridge has argued that Wagner's work also bears the influence of
Mary Russell Mitford
Mary Russell Mitford (16 December 1787 – 10 January 1855) was an English essayist, novelist, poet and dramatist. She was born at Alresford in Hampshire, England. She is best known for '' Our Village'', a series of sketches of village scenes ...
's 1828 "highly successful English play" ''Rienzi''). During a 1839 visit to the bathing resort town of
Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...
, Wagner approached Meyerbeer with a partial draft of ''Rienzi'', and the elder composer responded with encouragement. Meyerbeer also introduced Wagner to
Ignaz Moscheles
Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano in the Co ...
, who was also staying at Boulogne; as
Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman (30 November 1868 – 7 July 1959) was an English music critic and musicologist. ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' describes him as "the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century." His ...
comments, this was "Wagner's first meeting with real international musical celebrities". When the opera was completed in 1840, Wagner hoped for it to be premiered at the
Berlin Royal Opera or the
Paris Opéra
The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...
.
Several circumstances, including his lack of influence, prevented this. Moreover, Wagner's wife
Minna, in a letter of 28 October 1840 to Wagner's friend Apel, who had likely first made the suggestion that Wagner compose ''Rienzi'',
mentions a plan to perform the overture to ''Rienzi'' "a fortnight hence", but contains a clear indication that her husband had just been committed to a debtors' prison. The full score of ''Rienzi'' was completed on 19 November 1840.
In 1841 Wagner moved to
Meudon
Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...
, just outside Paris, where the debt laws could be more easily evaded, whilst awaiting developments for ''Rienzi'', having already written to King
Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, requesting that he order a production of the work in
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
.

With the support of Meyerbeer, a staging of ''Rienzi'' was arranged in Dresden; Meyerbeer wrote to the Director of the Opera in Dresden, Baron von Lüttichau, that he found the opera "rich in fantasy and of great dramatic effect". This, with the proposed staging of ''
Der fliegende Holländer'' in Berlin, also supported by Meyerbeer, persuaded Wagner to return to Germany in April 1842. During rehearsals the performers were highly enthusiastic; the tenor
Tichatschek, in the title role, was so impressed with a passage from act 3 (later deleted because of the opera's length), that "at each rehearsal, each of the soloists contributed a
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
groschen
Groschen (; from "thick", via Old Czech ') is the (sometimes colloquial) name for various coins, especially a silver coin used in parts of Europe including Kingdom of France, France, some of the Italian states, and various states of the Holy R ...
to
fund that Tichatschek had started ... No one suspected that what was an amiable joke for them was the means of buying
agneran extra morsel of sorely-needed food."
The premiere of ''Rienzi'' took place on 20 October 1842 in the new
Dresden Opera House, designed by the architect
Gottfried Semper
Gottfried Semper (; 29 November 1803 – 15 May 1879) was a German architect, art critic, and professor of architecture who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and 1841. In 1849 he took part in the May Uprising in ...
and opened the previous year. Semper and Wagner were later to become friends in Dresden, a connection which eventually led to Semper providing designs which became a basis of Wagner's
Festspielhaus in
Bayreuth
Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...
.
The first performance of ''Rienzi'' was well received in Dresden despite running over six hours (including intermissions). One legend is that, fearful of the audience departing, Wagner stopped the clock above the stage. In his later memoirs, ''
Mein Leben'', Wagner recalled:
No subsequent experience has given me feelings even remotely similar to those I had on this day of the first performance of ''Rienzi''. The only too well-founded anxiety as to their success has so dominated my feelings at all subsequent first performances of my works that I could never really enjoy them or take much notice of the way the audience was behaving. ..The initial success of ''Rienzi'' was no doubt assured beforehand. But the uproarious way in which the public declared its partiality for me was extraordinary ... The public had been forcibly predisposed to accept it, because everyone connected with the theatre had been spreading such favourable reports ... that the entire population was looking forward to what was heralded as a miracle ... In trying to recall my condition that evening, I can remember it only as possessing all the features of a dream.
Subsequently, Wagner experimented with giving the opera over two evenings (at the suggestion of von Lüttichau), and making cuts to enable a more reasonable performance in a single evening.
Performance history
Despite Wagner's reservations, ''Rienzi'' remained one of his most successful operas until the early 20th century. In Dresden alone, it reached its 100th performance in 1873 and 200th in 1908 and it was regularly performed throughout the 19th century in major opera houses throughout Europe and beyond, including those in America and England in 1878/9.
The
Paris premiere of ''Rienzi'' finally took place on 6 April 1869 at the Théâtre Lyrique under the baton of
Jules Pasdeloup. The US premiere took place on 4 March 1878 at the
Academy of Music in New York and was followed on 27 January 1879 by the first UK performance at
Her Majesty's Theatre
His Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated in the Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The building, designed by Charles J. Phipps, was constructed in 1897 for the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who ...
in London. The overture was the first work performed at the inaugural
Henry Wood Promenade Concert at the
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...
in London in August 1895.
A staging at the
English National Opera
English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...
in London, produced by
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner ( ; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include ''Miss Saigon'', '' ...
in 1983, placed the hero in the context of 20th-century
totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...
. A production by
David Pountney
Sir David Willoughby Pountney (born 10 September 1947) is a British-Polish theatre and opera director and libretto, librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works. He has di ...
at the
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by ...
in 1999 set the work in the "near future". Of this production Pountney wrote:
:Wagner invested the musical realization of ''Rienzi'' with the unashamed extravagance and tasteless exaggeration of a
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
hotel ... only the self-consciously deliberate and unabashed use of
kitsch
''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste.
The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...
could match this musical
egomania
Egomania is a psychiatric term used to describe excessive preoccupation with one's ego, identity or selfdictionary.com and applies the same preoccupation to anyone who follows one's own ungoverned impulses, is possessed by delusions of personal g ...
.
Other contemporary productions have been rare. Performances were given at the
Theater Bremen in April/May 2009 and at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet.
Since 2004, the ...
and
Oper Leipzig
The Leipzig Opera () is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte, Germany.
History
Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Singspiel perfo ...
in April/May 2010. In July 2013, the bicentennial year of Wagner's birth, performances of all three of Wagner's early operas, including ''Rienzi'', took place for the first time at
Bayreuth
Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...
, at the
Oberfrankenhalle. This performance trimmed some parts, including the second-act ballet. The Boston premiere was produced in concert by
Odyssey Opera in September 2013 as their inaugural performance. The Australian premiere was a concert performance by
Melbourne Opera in December 2013, as part of the bicentennial celebrations.
Roles
Synopsis
Overture
The opera opens with a substantial overture which begins with a trumpet call (which in act 3 we learn is the war call of the Colonna family) and features the melody of Rienzi's prayer at the start of act 5, which became the opera's best-known aria. The overture ends with a military march.
Act 1
''Outside Rienzi's house''
The
patrician Orsini and his cronies attempt to kidnap Rienzi's sister Irene. Stefano Colonna, also a patrician but inclined to support Rienzi, prevents them. Raimondo appeals to the parties in the name of the Church to stop their fighting; Rienzi's eventual appearance (marked by a dramatic key shift, from D to E flat) quells the riot. The Roman people support Rienzi's condemnation of the nobles. Irene and Adriano realise their mutual attraction (duet "Ja, eine Welt voll Leiden" – Yes, a world of sorrows). A gathering crowd of
plebeian
In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary.
Etymology
The precise origins of the gro ...
s, inspired by Rienzi's speeches, offers Rienzi the crown; he demurs, insisting that he wishes only to be a
Tribune
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...
of the Roman people.
Act 2
''A hall in the
Capitol''
The patricians plot the death of Rienzi; Adriano is horrified when he learns of this. Rienzi greets a group of
ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
s for whom an entertainment is laid on (a lengthy
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
). Orsini attempts to stab Rienzi, who however is protected by a vest of
chain mail
Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...
. Adriano pleads with Rienzi for mercy to the nobles, which Rienzi grants.
The act 2 ballet is noteworthy as Wagner made a clear attempt to make it relevant to the action of the opera (whereas in most Grand Operas the ballet was simply an entertaining diversion). The ''Rienzi'' ballet was intended to tell the tale of the 'Rape of
Lucretia
According to Roman tradition, Lucretia ( /luːˈkriːʃə/ ''loo-KREE-shə'', Classical Latin: �ʊˈkreːtia died ), anglicized as Lucrece, was a noblewoman in ancient Rome. Sextus Tarquinius (Tarquin) raped her. Her subsequent suicide precipi ...
'. This storyline (in which
Tarquinius
The gens Tarquinia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, usually associated with Lucius Tarquinius Priscus and Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the fifth and seventh Kings of Rome. Most of the Tarquinii who appear in history are connected in some wa ...
, the last king of Rome, attempts to rape the virtuous Lucretia), parallels both the action of ''Rienzi'' (Orsini's attempt on Irene) and its background (patricians versus the people). In its original form the ballet lasts for over half an hour – in modern performances and recordings it is generally drastically cut.
Act 3
''The
Roman Forum
A forum (Latin: ''forum'', "public place outdoors", : ''fora''; English : either ''fora'' or ''forums'') was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of Ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, alon ...
''
The patricians have recruited an army to march on Rome. The people are alarmed. Adriano begs Rienzi to stop the war, offering his own life to avoid bloodshed, but is ignored. Rienzi rouses the people and leads them to victory over the nobles, in the course of which Adriano's father Stefano is killed. Adriano swears revenge, but Rienzi dismisses him.
Act 4
''Before the
Lateran Church''
Cecco and other citizens discuss the negotiations of the patricians with the
Pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
and with the
Emperor of Germany. Adriano's intention to kill Rienzi wavers when Rienzi arrives together with Irene. Raimondo now announces that the Pope has laid a papal ban on Rienzi, and that his associates risk
excommunication
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...
. Despite Adriano's urgings, Irene resolves to stay with Rienzi.
Act 5
''Scene 1: A room in the Capitol''
Rienzi in his prayer "Allmächt'ger Vater" (Almighty Father!) asserts his faith in the people of Rome. He suggests to Irene that she seek safety with Adriano, but she demurs. An apologetic Adriano enters and tells the pair that the Capitol is to be burnt and they are at risk.
''Scene 2: The Capitol is ablaze''
Rienzi's attempts to speak are met with stones and insults from the fickle crowd. Adriano, in trying to rescue Rienzi and Irene, is killed with them as the building collapses.
In the original performances, Rienzi's final words are bitter and pessimistic: "May the town be accursed and destroyed! Disintegrate and wither, Rome! Your degenerate people wish it so." However, for the 1847 Berlin performance Wagner substituted a more upbeat rhetoric: "Ever while the seven hills of Rome remain, ever while the eternal city stands, you will see Rienzi's return!".
Reception and performances
''Rienzi'' was an immediate success. This, his first real success of any kind, was crucial in Wagner's career, launching him as a composer to be reckoned with. It was followed, within months, by his appointment as
Kapellmeister
( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...
at the Dresden Opera (February 1843), which also gave him considerable prestige. It also received critical acclaim elsewhere in Europe. The young
Eduard Hanslick
Eduard Hanslick (11 September 18256 August 1904) was an Austrian music critic, aesthetician and historian. Among the leading critics of his time, he was the chief music critic of the '' Neue Freie Presse'' from 1864 until the end of his life. Hi ...
, later to be one of Wagner's foremost critical adversaries, wrote in 1846 in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
:
I am of the firm opinion that 'Rienzi''is the finest thing achieved in grand opera in the last twelve years, that it is the most significant dramatic creation since ''Les Huguenots'', and that it is just as epoch-making for its own time as were ''Les Huguenots'', ''Der Freischütz
' (Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns, J. 277, Opus number, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Johann Fried ...
'', and ''Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...
'', each for its respective period of musical history.
Other critical comments through the ages have included (apart from von Bülow's jibe about it being 'Meyerbeer's best opera'), 'Meyerbeer's worst opera' (
Charles Rosen
Charles Welles Rosen (May 5, 1927December 9, 2012) was an American pianist and writer on music. He is remembered for his career as a concert pianist, for his recordings, and for his many writings, notable among them the book '' The Classical St ...
), 'an attack of musical measles' (
Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman (30 November 1868 – 7 July 1959) was an English music critic and musicologist. ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' describes him as "the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century." His ...
) and ' the greatest musical drama ever composed' (
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...
).
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...
wrote a "Fantasy on Themes from ''Rienzi''" (S. 439) for piano in 1859.
Wagner later perceived ''Rienzi'' as an embarrassment; in his 1852 autobiographical essay, "
A Communication to My Friends", he wrote "I saw it only in the shape of 'five acts', with five brilliant 'finales', with hymns, processions and the musical clash of arms".
Cosima Wagner
Francesca Gaetana Cosima Wagner (; 24 December 1837 – 1April 1930) was the daughter of the Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt and Franco-German romantic author Marie d'Agoult. She became the second wife of the German composer Richard ...
recorded Wagner's comment in her diary for 20 June 1871:
''Rienzi'' is very repugnant to me, but they should at least recognize the fire in it; I was a music director and I wrote a grand opera; the fact that it was this same music director who gave them some hard nuts to crack – that's what should astonish them.
Thus the work has remained outside today's Wagner canon, and was only performed at the
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...
in 2013, staged by
Matthias von Stegmann. Although the composer disclaimed it, it can be noted that ''Rienzi'' prefigures themes (brother/sister relationships, social order and revolution) to which Wagner was often to return in his later works.
''Rienzi'' and Adolf Hitler
August Kubizek, a boyhood friend of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
, claimed that Hitler was so influenced by seeing ''Rienzi'' as a young man in 1906 or 1907 that it triggered his political career, and that when Kubizek reminded Hitler, in 1939 at Bayreuth, of his exultant response to the opera Hitler had replied, "At that hour it all began!"
[. Kershaw comments: "Hitler probably believed his own myth. Kubizek certainly did."] Although Kubizek's veracity has been seriously questioned, it is known that Hitler possessed the original manuscript of the opera, which he had requested and been given as a
fiftieth birthday present in 1939. The manuscript was with Hitler in
his bunker; it was either stolen, lost or destroyed by fire in the destruction of the bunker's contents after Hitler's death (the manuscript of Wagner's earlier work ''
Die Feen'' is believed to have met with the same fate). Thomas Grey comments:
In every step of Rienzi's career – from ... acclamation as leader of the ''Volk
The German noun ''Volk'' () translates to :wikt:people, people,
both uncountable in the sense of ''people'' as in a crowd, and countable (plural ''Völker'') in the sense of ''People, a people'' as in an ethnic group or nation (compare the E ...
'', through military struggle, violent suppression of mutinous factions, betrayal and ... final immolation – Hitler would doubtless have found sustenance for his fantasies.
Albert Speer
Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...
claims to have remembered an incident when
Robert Ley
Robert Ley (; 15 February 1890 – 25 October 1945) was a German Nazi politician and head of the German Labour Front during its entire existence, from 1933 to 1945. He also held many other high positions in the Nazi Party, including , and .
So ...
advocated using a modern composition to open the
Party Rallies in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
, but Hitler rejected this idea:
"You know, Ley, it isn't by chance that I have the Party Rallies open with the overture to ''Rienzi''. It's not just a musical question. At the age of twenty-four this man, an innkeeper's son, persuaded the Roman people to drive out the corrupt Senate by reminding them of the magnificent past of the Roman Empire. Listening to this blessed music as a young man in the theater at Linz, I had the vision that I too must someday succeed in uniting the German Empire and making it great once more."
Editions
The original performance version of ''Rienzi'' was lost in the
Dresden bombing of 1945,
and the manuscript (on which it had been based) was lost in Berlin in 1945. No full copies had been made of either version, as far as is known. However, ''Rienzi'' was never established by the composer into a finalized version, so all performances of it since 1945 have been reconstructions.
A vocal score of the early 1840s, based on Wagner's draft, remains as the only existing primary source. Two surviving full scores made in Dresden in the early 1840s (under Wagner's supervision) already reflect the heavy cuts made in performances. The first printed score that was made under Wagner's supervision in 1844 reflects even heavier cuts.
A
critical edition
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may range i ...
of the opera was prepared by
Schott's in
Mainz
Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
in 1976 as volume III of their scholarly complete edition of Wagner's works. This edition was edited by Wagner scholars
Reinhard Strohm and
Egon Voss; it uses the extant sources but also contains the 1844 piano version prepared by Gustav Klink, (which includes some of the passages excised from early performances).
Overall it is not possible to accurately reconstruct Wagner's "original" ''Rienzi'', but ''Rienzi'' on the other hand was clearly never finished by the composer. It was constantly being altered during the 1840s (and, it seems, possibly throughout Wagner's lifetime), so it is not feasible to fully determine Wagner's exact or final intentions based on existing evidence.
Recordings
Complete recordings (and performances) of Rienzi are rare, although the overture is regularly found on radio broadcasts and compilation CDs. Significant cuts to the score are common in recordings.
Audio recordings include:
*
Winfried Zillig conducting the
Sinfonieorchester des Hessischen Rundfunks.
Günther Treptow,
Trude Eipperle, Helmut Fehn,
Erna Schlüter, Rudolf Gonszar, Heinz Prybit. Frankfurt, 1950.
*
Josef Krips
Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist.
Life and career
Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...
conducting the
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
The Vienna Symphony (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, ) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna. Its primary concert venue is the Vienna Konzerthaus. In Vienna, the orchestra also performs at the Musikverein and at the Theater an der Wien.
History ...
.
Set Svanholm,
Walter Berry,
Christa Ludwig,
Alois Pernerstorfer,
Paul Schöffler. 1960 (Melodram).
*
Heinrich Hollreiser
Heinrich Hollreiser (24 June 1913 – 24 July 2006) was a German conductor.
Born in Munich, he attended the State Academy of Music there and went on to serve as the conductor at the opera houses in Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Mannheim, and Duisburg. ...
conducting the
Dresden Staatskapelle
The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden (), or Saxony, Saxon State Orchestra Dresden, is one of the oldest orchestras in the world, created by order of Maurice, Elector of Saxony in 1548. Under communist East Germany and until 1992 it was called St ...
.
René Kollo
René Kollo (born 20 November 1937) is a German operatic tenor, especially known for his Wagnerian Heldentenor roles. He also performed a wide variety of operas and operettas, and made several recordings.
Biography
Born René Kollodzieyski in ...
, Siv Wennberg,
Janis Martin,
Theo Adam
Theo Adam (1 August 1926 – 10 January 2019) was a German operatic bass-baritone and bass singer who had an international career in opera, concert and recital from 1949. He was a member of the Staatsoper Dresden for his entire career, and s ...
. 1976 (EMI). (Complete recording of Wagner's shortened 1843 version)
*
Edward Downes conducting the
BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra.
John Mitchinson, Lorna Haywood,
Michael Langdon,
Raimund Herincx. 1976 (Ponto POCD1040) (''Complete and uncut recording of Wagner's "original" 1842 version'')
*
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch (26 August 1923 – 22 February 2013) was a German conductor and pianist.
Biography
Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Munich, the son of Maria and Wilhelm Sawallisch. His father was director of the Hamburg-Bremer-Feuerversich ...
conducting the
Bavarian State Opera
The Bavarian State Opera () is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bavarian State Orchestra.
History
The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under El ...
Orchestra. René Kollo,
Jan-Hendrik Rootering,
Cheryl Studer, John Janssen. 1983 (Orfeo d'Oro)
*
Sebastian Weigle conducting the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumorchester. Peter Bronder, Christiane Libor, Falk Struckmann,
Claudia Mahnke. 2013 (Oehms Classics)
Video recordings include:
*
Philipp Stölzl
Philipp Stölzl (born 1967 in Munich) is a German director. He began to direct music videos in the mid-1990s and directed his first feature film in 2002.
Life and career
Philipp Stölzl was trained as a set and costume designer at the Münchner ...
(director) and
Sebastian Lang-Lessing (conductor) at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet.
Since 2004, the ...
, starring Torsten Kerl (Rienzi),
Camilla Nylund (Irene),
Kate Aldrich (Adriano). 2010 (Unitel Classica / Arthaus Musik)
*
Jorge Lavelli (director) and
Pinchas Steinberg (conductor) at the Toulouse
Théâtre du Capitole, starring Torsten Kerl (Rienzi), Marika Schönberg (Irene), Daniela Sindram (Adriano). 2013 (Opus Arte)
Recordings of the overture include:
Hans Knappertsbusch
Hans Knappertsbusch (12 March 1888 – 25 October 1965) was a German conductor, best known for his performances of the music of Wagner, Bruckner and Richard Strauss.
Knappertsbusch followed the traditional route for an aspiring conductor in Ger ...
conducting the
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; ) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its members are selected from the orchestra of ...
,
Otto Klemperer
Otto Nossan Klemperer (; 14 May 18856 July 1973) was a German conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the United States, Hungary and finally, Great Britain. He began his career as an opera conductor, but he was later bet ...
conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...
,
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine ( ; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March ...
conducting the
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...
conducting the
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, the parent corporation of the National Broadcasting Company especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC ...
,
George Szell
George Szell (; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor, composer and pianist. Considered one of the twentieth century's greatest conductors ...
conducting the
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". T ...
,
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel (; March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in t ...
conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...
,
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British-born American conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. H ...
conducting the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England.
The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...
,
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mehta's father ...
conducting the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra
The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...
,
Mariss Jansons
Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons (14 January 1943 – 1 December 2019) was a Latvian Conducting, conductor, best known for his interpretations of Gustav Mahler, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Strauss, and Russian composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, ...
conducting the
Oslo Philharmonic
The Oslo Philharmonic () is a Norwegian symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra traces its roots to the Philharmonic Society founded in 1847 and the Christiania Musical Association co-founded by Edvard Grieg in 1871, and was esta ...
,
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...
conducting the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...
and
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was an Austrian conductor. He was best known for his performances of the music of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss.
Life and career
Education
Karl Böhm was born in Graz, St ...
conducting the
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; ) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its members are selected from the orchestra of ...
.
References
Notes
Sources
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Further reading
*''The New Kobbé's
Complete Opera Book'' (11th edition), 1997.
External links
*
Synopsisfrom
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
* ,
Max Lorenz, 1941
Recordings of ''Rienzi'' on Wagner Discography siteComplete text of Bulwer-Lytton's ''Rienzi''at Project Gutenberg.
MIDI recording of the overture
{{Authority control
Operas by Richard Wagner
Libretti by Richard Wagner
Grand operas
German-language operas
Operas set in Italy
1842 operas
Operas
Operas based on works by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Opera world premieres at the Semperoper
Operas set in the 14th century