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{{Short description|1842 opera by Richard Wagner}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox opera
| name              = Rienzi, der letzte der Tribunen
| genre             = [[Opera]]
| image             = Illustration of the last scene of Act3 of 'Rienzi' by Wagner at the Théâtre Lyrique 1869 - Bauer 1983p31.jpg
| image_upright     = 1.2
| alt               =
| caption           = Last scene of act 3 of ''Rienzi'' at the [[Théâtre Lyrique]], 1869
| composer          = [[Richard Wagner]]
| librettist        = Richard Wagner
| based_on          = [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]'s novel
| language          = German
| premiere_date     = {{Start date|1842|10|20|df=y}}
| premiere_location = [[Königliches Hoftheater Dresden]]
}}

'''''{{Lang|de|Rienzi, der letzte der Tribunen}}''''' (''Rienzi, the last of the [[tribune]]s''; [[Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis|WWV]] 49) is an 1842 [[opera]] by [[Richard Wagner]] in five acts, with the [[libretto]] written by the composer after [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]'s novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to '''''Rienzi''''' {{IPA|it|ˈrjɛntsi|}}. 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]] (1313–1354), a late [[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 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 [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus|Capitol]], in which Rienzi and a few adherents have made a last stand.

==Composition history==
[[File:Dresden Hoftheater J C A Richter.jpg|thumb|left|Interior of the first [[Semperoper|Dresden Opera House]], where ''Rienzi'' was premiered in 1842 (contemporary sketch by J. C. A. Richter)]]
''Rienzi'' is Wagner's third completed opera, and is mostly written in a [[grand opera]] 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 [[Gaspare Spontini|Spontini]]" and the Parisian grand opera of [[Daniel Auber]], [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]], and [[Fromental Halévy]].<ref>{{cite book |last1= Wagner|first1= Richard|date= 1911|title= Sämtliche schriften und dichtungen (v.7)|trans-title= Complete Writings and Poems|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3209605&view=1up&seq=129&q1=rienzi|url-status= |format= |language= German|location= Leipzig|publisher= Breitkopf & Härtel|archive-url= |archive-date= |via= |quote=''Rienzi'', ein Werk voll jugendlichen Feuers, welches mir meinen ersten Erfolg in Deutschland verschaffte, und nicht nur an dem Theater, wo ich es zuerst aufführte, in Dresden, sondern seitdem auch auf vielen anderen Theatern fortgesept neben meinen übrigen Opern gegegeben wird. Ich lege auf dieses Werk, welches seine Konzeption und formelle Ausführung den zur Nacheiferung auffordernden frühesten Eindrücken der heroischen Oper Spontini's sowie des glänzenden, von Paris ausgehenden Genre's der Großen Oper Auber's, Meyerbeer's und Halévy's...}} </ref> ''Rienzi'''s 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]]'' (1835), and Meyerbeer's ''[[Les Huguenots]]'' (1836).{{sfn|Grey|2008|p=35}} Each act ends with an extended finale ensemble and is replete with solos, duets, trios and crowd scenes. There is also an extended [[ballet]] in act 2 according to the accepted Grand Opera format. [[Hans von Bülow]] was later to joke that "''Rienzi'' is Meyerbeer's best opera".{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, 212}} 

Wagner began to draft the opera in [[Riga]] in 1837, after reading Lytton's novel (although [[John Deathridge]] has argued that Wagner's work also bears the influence of [[Mary Russell Mitford]]'s 1828 "highly successful English play" ''Rienzi'').{{sfn|Deathridge|1983}} During a 1839 visit to the bathing resort town of [[Boulogne]], Wagner approached Meyerbeer with a partial draft of ''Rienzi'', and the elder composer responded with encouragement.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Thomson |first=Joan L. |title=Giacomo Meyerbeer: The Jew and His Relationship with Richard Wagner|journal=Musica Judaica|volume=1|number=1 |year=1975–76|pages=54–86|publisher=American Society for Jewish Music}}</ref> Meyerbeer also introduced Wagner to [[Ignaz Moscheles]], who was also staying at Boulogne; as [[Ernest Newman]] comments, this was "Wagner's first meeting with real international musical celebrities".{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, 269}} When the opera was completed in 1840, Wagner hoped for it to be premiered at the [[Berlin State Opera|Berlin Royal Opera]] or the [[Paris Opéra]].{{sfn|Deathridge|1983}}

Several circumstances, including his lack of influence, prevented this. Moreover, Wagner's wife [[Minna Planer|Minna]], in a letter of 28 October 1840 to Wagner's friend Apel, who had likely first made the suggestion that Wagner compose ''Rienzi'',<ref name=Grove>{{harvnb|Millington|1992b}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, 302–303}} The full score of ''Rienzi'' was completed on 19 November 1840.

In 1841 Wagner moved to [[Meudon]], just outside Paris, where the debt laws could be more easily evaded,{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, 313}} 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]].

[[File:Luttichau.jpg|thumb|upright|Baron von Lüttichau (1786–1863), General Director of the Dresden Opera House from 1824]]
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".{{sfn|Meyerbeer|1975|p=341}} This, with the proposed staging of ''[[Der fliegende Holländer]]'' in Berlin, also supported by Meyerbeer,{{sfn|Meyerbeer|1975|p=386}} persuaded Wagner to return to Germany in April 1842. During rehearsals the performers were highly enthusiastic; the tenor [[Josef Aloys Tichatschek|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]] [[groschen]] to [a] fund that Tichatschek had started&nbsp;... No one suspected that what was an amiable joke for them was the means of buying [Wagner] an extra morsel of sorely-needed food."<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|1976|loc=I, 340}}; see also {{harvnb|Wagner|1992|p=229}}</ref>

The premiere of ''Rienzi'' took place on 20 October 1842 in the new [[Semperoper|Dresden Opera House]], designed by the architect [[Gottfried Semper]] and opened the previous year.{{sfn|Feustel|1998|p=19}} 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 [[Bayreuth Festspielhaus|Festspielhaus]] in [[Bayreuth]].

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.{{sfn|Gutman|1990|p=86}} In his later memoirs, ''[[Mein Leben (Wagner)|Mein Leben]]'', Wagner recalled:
<blockquote>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&nbsp;... The public had been forcibly predisposed to accept it, because everyone connected with the theatre had been spreading such favourable reports&nbsp;... that the entire population was looking forward to what was heralded as a miracle&nbsp;... In trying to recall my condition that evening, I can remember it only as possessing all the features of a dream.{{sfn|Wagner|1992|p=231}}</blockquote>

Subsequently, Wagner experimented with giving the opera over two evenings (at the suggestion of von Lüttichau),{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, 345}} 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.<ref name=Grove /> The [[Théâtre Lyrique#Rienzi|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 (New York City)|Academy of Music in New York]] and was followed on 27 January 1879 by the first UK performance at [[Her Majesty's Theatre]] in London.{{sfn|Holden|2001|p=1023}} The overture was the first work performed at the inaugural [[The Proms|Henry Wood Promenade Concert]] at the [[Queen's Hall]] in London in August 1895.<ref>{{cite web|url =http://www.royalalberthall.com/about-the-hall/news/2015/august/10-august-1895-the-first-ever-proms-concert/|title =10 August 1895: The first ever 'First Night of the Proms|date = 10 August 2015|website =The Royal Albert Hall|publisher =[[Royal Albert Hall]]}}</ref>

A staging at the [[English National Opera]] in London, produced by [[Nicholas Hytner]] in 1983, placed the hero in the context of 20th-century [[totalitarianism]]. A production by [[David Pountney]] at the [[Vienna State Opera]] 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 Valley|Las Vegas]] hotel&nbsp;... only the self-consciously deliberate and unabashed use of [[kitsch]] could match this musical [[egomania]].{{sfn|Charlton|2003|pp=137–138}}

Other contemporary productions have been rare. Performances were given at the [[Theater Bremen]] in April/May 2009 and at the [[Deutsche Oper Berlin]] and [[Oper Leipzig]] 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]], at the [[Oberfrankenhalle]].<ref>[http://www.wagnerjahr2013.de/en/rienzi.html Wagnerjahr-2013] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725083356/http://www.wagnerjahr2013.de/en/rienzi.html |date=2013-07-25 }}, accessed 10 July 2013</ref> This performance trimmed some parts, including the second-act ballet.<ref>[http://michaelteager.com/blog/2013/12/31/guerrilla-opera-reflections-on-bicentennial-rienzi-at-bayreuths-oberfrankenhalle/ "Guerrilla Opera: Reflections on Bicentennial ''Rienzi'' at Bayreuth's Oberfrankenhalle"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923003354/https://michaelteager.com/blog/2013/12/31/guerrilla-opera-reflections-on-bicentennial-rienzi-at-bayreuths-oberfrankenhalle/ |date=2023-09-23 }} by Michael Teager, 31 December 2013</ref> The Boston premiere was produced in concert by [[Odyssey Opera]] in September 2013 as their inaugural performance.<ref>{{Cite web|publisher=[[Odyssey Opera]]|title=Reviews for Rienzi|url=https://odysseyopera.org/reviews-for-rienzi/|access-date=2021-05-24}}</ref> The Australian premiere was a concert performance by [[Melbourne Opera]] in December 2013, as part of the bicentennial celebrations.<ref>[https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/opera/melbourne-operas-performs-rienzi-a-lumpish-curiosity-piece-not-one-of-wagners-best-20131209-2z1n5.html "Melbourne Opera's performs ''Rienzi'', a lumpish curiosity piece not one of Wagner's best"] by [[Michael Shmith]], ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'', 10 December 2013</ref>

== Roles ==
[[File:Carlreissiger.jpg|thumb|upright|Carl Reißiger, conductor of the first performance of ''Rienzi'']]
{| class="wikitable"
|+{{sronly|Roles, voice types, premiere cast}}
!Role
![[Voice type]]
!Premiere cast, 20 October 1842<br />Conductor: [[Carl Reißiger]]
|-
|[[Cola di Rienzo|Cola Rienzi]], ''Roman Tribune''
|[[tenor]]
|[[Josef Tichatschek]]
|-
|Irene, ''his sister''
|[[soprano]]
|Henriette Wüst
|-
|[[Stefano Colonna]], ''a nobleman''
|[[bass (voice type)|bass]]
|Georg Wilhelm Dettmer
|-
|Adriano, ''his son''
|[[soprano]] ([[en travesti]])
|[[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
|-
| colspan="3" |''Ambassadors, Nobles, Priests, Monks, Soldiers, Messengers, Populace''
|-
|}

==Synopsis==
===Overture===
[[File:Illustrirte Zeitung (1843) 07 012 1 Königl Hoftheater in Dresden-Cola Rienzi, große tragische Oper von Richard Wagner-Act IV, letzte Scene.PNG|thumb|upright=1.2|Act 4, last scene, in the Dresden Opera House (1842)]]
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===
[[File:Una via, nel fondo la chiesa del Laterano. A destra la casa di Rienzi, bozzetto di artista ignoto per Rienzi (1842) - Archivio Storico Ricordi ICON002153.jpg|thumb|''Una via, nel fondo la chiesa del Laterano''. On th right Rienzi's house, set design for ''Rienzi'' act 1 (1842).]]
''Outside Rienzi's house''

The [[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)|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]]s, inspired by Rienzi's speeches, offers Rienzi the crown; he demurs, insisting that he wishes only to be a [[Tribune]] of the Roman people.

===Act 2===
''A hall in the [[Capitoline Hill|Capitol]]''

The patricians plot the death of Rienzi; Adriano is horrified when he learns of this. Rienzi greets a group of [[ambassador]]s for whom an entertainment is laid on (a lengthy [[ballet]]). Orsini attempts to stab Rienzi, who however is protected by a vest of [[chain mail]]. 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]]'. This storyline (in which [[Lucius Tarquinius Superbus|Tarquinius]], 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).{{sfn|Charlton|2003|p=139}} 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]]''

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 [[Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano|Lateran Church]]''

Cecco and other citizens discuss the negotiations of the patricians with the [[Pope]] and with the [[Holy Roman Emperor|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]]. 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!".<ref name="Strohm 1976, 725">{{harvnb|Strohm|1976|p=725}}</ref>

==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]] at the Dresden Opera (February 1843), which also gave him considerable prestige.{{sfn|Newman|1976|pp=351–353}} It also received critical acclaim elsewhere in Europe. The young [[Eduard Hanslick]], later to be one of Wagner's foremost critical adversaries, wrote in 1846 in [[Vienna]]:
<blockquote>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]]'', and ''[[Don Giovanni]]'', each for its respective period of musical history.<ref>cited in {{harvnb|Charlton|2003|p=332}}</ref></blockquote>

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]]), 'an attack of musical measles' ([[Ernest Newman]]) and ' the greatest musical drama ever composed' ([[Gustav Mahler]]).{{sfn|Deathridge|1983|p=546}}

[[Franz Liszt]] wrote a "Fantasy on Themes from ''Rienzi''" (S. 439) for piano in 1859.<ref>{{IMSLP|work=Phantasiestück über Motive aus 'Rienzi', S.439 (Liszt, Franz)|cname=Phantasiestück über Motive aus ''Rienzi'', S. 439}}</ref>

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".<ref>cited in {{harvnb|Charlton|2003|p=328}}</ref> [[Cosima Wagner]] recorded Wagner's comment in her diary for 20 June 1871:

<blockquote>''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.<ref>cited in {{harvnb|Millington|1999|p=10}}</ref></blockquote>

Thus the work has remained outside today's Wagner canon, and was only performed at the [[Bayreuth Festival]] 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]], 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!"<ref>{{harvnb|Kershaw|2000|p=198}}. [[Ian Kershaw|Kershaw]] comments: "Hitler probably believed his own myth. Kubizek certainly did."</ref> Although Kubizek's veracity has been seriously questioned,{{sfn|Karlsson|2012|pp=35–47}} it is known that Hitler possessed the original manuscript of the opera, which he had requested and been given as a [[Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday|fiftieth birthday]] present in 1939.{{sfn|Vaget|2003|p=122}} The manuscript was with Hitler in [[Führerbunker|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).{{sfn|Millington|1992a|p=276}} Thomas Grey comments:

<blockquote>In every step of Rienzi's career – from&nbsp;... acclamation as leader of the ''[[Volk#Nazi era|Volk]]'', through military struggle, violent suppression of mutinous factions, betrayal and&nbsp;... final immolation – Hitler would doubtless have found sustenance for his fantasies.{{sfn|Grey|2008|p=36}}</blockquote>

[[Albert Speer]] claims to have remembered an incident when [[Robert Ley]] advocated using a modern composition to open the [[Nuremberg rallies|Party Rallies]] in [[Nuremberg]], but Hitler rejected this idea:

<blockquote>"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."{{sfn|Speer|1976|p=88}}</blockquote>

==Editions==
The original performance version of ''Rienzi'' was lost in the [[Dresden bombing]] of 1945,<ref name="Strohm 1976, 725" /> 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.{{sfn|Strohm|1976|p=726}}

A [[Critical edition (opera)|critical edition]] of the opera was prepared by [[Schott Music|Schott's]] in [[Mainz]] 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).{{sfn|Millington|1992a|pp=223–224}}

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]] conducting the [[Vienna Symphony Orchestra]]. [[Set Svanholm]], [[Walter Berry (bass-baritone)|Walter Berry]], [[Christa Ludwig]], [[Alois Pernerstorfer]], [[Paul Schöffler]]. 1960 (Melodram).
* [[Heinrich Hollreiser]] conducting the [[Dresden Staatskapelle]]. [[René Kollo]], Siv Wennberg, [[Janis Martin (soprano)|Janis Martin]], [[Theo Adam]]. 1976 (EMI). (Complete recording of Wagner's shortened 1843 version)
* [[Edward Downes]] conducting the [[BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra]]. [[John Mitchinson (tenor)|John Mitchinson]], Lorna Haywood, [[Michael Langdon]], [[Raimund Herincx]]. 1976 (Ponto POCD1040) (''Complete and uncut recording of Wagner's "original" 1842 version'')
* [[Wolfgang Sawallisch]] conducting the [[Bavarian State Opera]] 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]] (director) and [[Sebastian Lang-Lessing]] (conductor) at the [[Deutsche Oper Berlin]], 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]] conducting the [[Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra]],
[[Otto Klemperer]] conducting the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]],
[[James Levine]] conducting the [[Metropolitan Opera Orchestra]],
[[Arturo Toscanini]] conducting the [[NBC Symphony Orchestra]],
[[George Szell]] conducting the [[Cleveland Orchestra]],
[[Lorin Maazel]] conducting the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]],
[[Leopold Stokowski]] conducting the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]],
[[Zubin Mehta]] conducting the [[New York Philharmonic Orchestra]],
[[Mariss Jansons]] conducting the [[Oslo Philharmonic]],
[[Daniel Barenboim]] conducting the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] and
[[Karl Böhm]] conducting the [[Vienna Philharmonic|Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra]].

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist}}
===Sources===
* {{cite book|editor-last=Charlton|editor-first=David|year=2003|title=[[Cambridge Companions to Music|The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera]]|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite journal|last=Deathridge|first=John|author-link=John Deathridge|date=September 1983|title=''Rienzi''...A Few of the Facts|journal=[[The Musical Times]]|volume=124|number=1687| pages=546–549|jstor=962386|doi=10.2307/962386}}
* {{cite book|last=Feustel|first=Gotthard|year=1998|title=Episoden aus der Semperoper|location=Leipzig}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Grey|editor-first=Thomas S.|year=2008|title=The Cambridge Companion to Wagner|series=[[Cambridge Companions to Music]]|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book|last=Gutman|first=Robert W.|year=1990|title=Wagner: The Man, His Mind and His Music|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Holden|editor-first=Amanda|editor-link=Amanda Holden (writer)|year=2001|title=The New Penguin Opera Guide|location=New York|publisher=Penguin Putnam|isbn=0-14-029312-4}}
* {{cite journal|last=Karlsson|first=Jonas|year=2012|title='In that hour it began'? Hitler, ''Rienzi'', and the Trustworthiness of August Kubizek's ''The Young Hitler I knew''|journal=The Wagner Journal|volume=6|number=2|pages=33–47}}
* {{cite book|last=Kershaw|first=Ian|author-link=Ian Kershaw|year=2000|title=Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis|location=London|publisher=Allen Lane: The Penguin Press|isbn=978-0-7139-9229-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Meyerbeer|first=Giacomo|author-link=Giacomo Meyerbeer|editor=H. and G. Becker|year=1975|title=Briefwechsel und Tagebücher|volume=III (1837–1845)|location=Berlin}}
* {{cite book|last=Millington|first=Barry|year=1992a|title=The Wagner Compendium|location=London|publisher=Faber}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Millington|first=Barry|year=1992b|title=''Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen''|encyclopedia=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Opera]]|editor=[[Stanley Sadie]]|publisher=[[Grove Music Online]]}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Millington|1999}}|reference=Millington, Barry (1999). "''Rienzi'': an opera in the grand style", programme notes to EMI Classics recording ([[Staatskapelle Dresden]], [[Heinrich Hollreiser]]).}}
* {{cite book|last=Newman|first=Ernest|author-link=Ernest Newman|year=1976|title=The Life of Richard Wagner|type=(4 volumes)|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
*{{cite book |last=Speer|first=Albert|author-link=Albert Speer|date=1976|title=[[Spandau: The Secret Diaries]]|publisher=Macmillan|translator=[[Richard and Clara Winston]]}}
* {{cite journal|last=Strohm|first=Reinhard|author-link=Reinhard Strohm|date=September 1976|title=''Rienzi'' and Authenticity|journal=[[The Musical Times]]|volume=117|number=1603|pages=725–727|doi=10.2307/957730|jstor=957730}}
* {{cite web|last=Vaget|first=Hans Rudolf|year=2003|url=http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/opus/volltexte/2008/50/chapter/HamburgUP_HUR03_Vaget.pdf|title=The political ramifications of Hitler's cult of Wagner|location=Hamburg|access-date=29 December 2009}}
* {{cite book|last=Wagner|first=Richard|translator=Andrew Gray|year=1992|title=My Life|location=New York}}

==Further reading==
*''The New Kobbé's [[Complete Opera Book]]'' (11th edition), 1997.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Rienzi|''Rienzi''}}
* {{IMSLP|work=Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen, WWV 49 (Wagner, Richard)|cname=''Rienzi''}}
* [http://opera.stanford.edu/Wagner/Rienzi/synopsis.html Synopsis] from [[Stanford University]]
* {{YouTube|TmBWzKrKqBE|"Allmächt'ger Vater", Rienzi's prayer}}, [[Max Lorenz (tenor)|Max Lorenz]], 1941
* [http://wagnerdisco.net Recordings of ''Rienzi'' on Wagner Discography site]
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1396 Complete text of Bulwer-Lytton's ''Rienzi''] at Project Gutenberg.
* [http://www.wagneroperas.com/RIENZIOV.MID MIDI recording of the overture]

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[[Category:Operas by Richard Wagner]]
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