In 1856 he started to write the opera by which he is now best remembered: "Faust" (1859), based on the first part of the play "Faust" by Goethe. The opera was produced in 1859 and soon was performed in many countries, especially in Germany. The composer Richard Wagner was the most important opera composer in Germany and his operas were quite different, so he said that Gounod’s operas were silly.