Rienzi 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, 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. With the support of
Santiago de Espada Santiago de Espada Santiago de Espada is a concert overture by the Australian composer Malcolm Williamson. Written in 1956 when Williamson was barely 25, it was his first mature orchestral work. The overture was first heard in June 1957 when the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult included it in a private concert at St. Pancras Town Hall, London (an event which also featured the première of Williamson's Symphony No. 1 "Elevamini"). Despite this, it wasn't until a broadcast in February 1958 that the work had its first public airing. The overture was not performed in Australia until