Rienzi Totally Explained

Everything about Rienzi totally explained

Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV 49) (Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes) is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name. (The title is commonly shortened to Rienzi.) Written between July 1838 and November 1840, it was first performed at the Hofoper, Dresden on October 20, 1842.

Background

Rienzi is Wagner's third completed opera, and is mostly written in a Grand Opera style. The first performance in Dresden was well received despite running over six hours (including intermissions). Later, Wagner experimented both with giving the opera over two evenings and making cuts for performance in a single evening.
Because of its atypical style, and its sheer length, Rienzi is rarely performed today, and has never been performed at the Bayreuth Festival. Wagner later saw the work as an embarrassment, but it remained one of his most successful until his death. An ingenious staging at the English National Opera in London, produced by Nicholas Hytner in the 1980s, placed the hero in the context of 20th century totalitarianism.
The opera concerns the life of Cola di Rienzi, a medieval 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's forced by events to crush the nobles' rebellion against the people's power, but popular opinion changes and even the Church, which has earlier 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.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, October 20, 1842 (Conductor: Carl Gottlieb Reißiger)
Cola Rienza, Roman Tribune	tenor	Josef Aloys Tichatschek
Irene, his sister	soprano	Henriette Wüst
Stefano Colonna, a nobleman	bass	Georg Wilhelm Dettmer
Adriano, his son	soprano	Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient
Paolo Orsini, another patrician	bass	Johann Michael Wächter
Raimondo, Papal Legate	bass	Gioacchino Vestri
Baroncelli, Roman citizen	tenor	Friedrich Traugott Reinhold
Cecco del Vecchio, Roman citizen	bass	Karl Risse
The Messenger of Peace	soprano	Anna Thiele
Ambassadors, Nobles, Priests, Monks, Soldiers, Messengers, Populace

Selected 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.

Josef Krips conducting the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Berry, Ludwig, Pernerstorfer, Schoffler. 1960 (Melodram).
Heinrich Hollreiser conducting the Dresden Staatskapelle. Kollo, Wennberg, Martin, Adam. 1975 (EMI). (Complete recording of Wagner's shortened 1843 version)
Edward Downes conducting the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra. Mitchinson, Haywood, Langdon, Herincx. 1976 (Ponto POCD1040) (Complete Recording of Wagner's "original" 1842 version)
Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting the Bavarian State Radio Orchestra. Kollo,Rootering, Studer, Janssen. 1983 (Orfeo d'Oro)

Recordings of the overture include: James Levine conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Wagner: Overtures & Preludes, 1993 (Deutsche Grammophon), Michael R. Gomez conducting the Vienna Philharmonic 2005 (EMI).

Further Information

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