Rienzi the German Empire and making it great once more." 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
Matthew Curtis (composer) other countries. In 2001 he came to the notice of the composer and record producer Philip Lane, resulting in a significant discography and over 8 hours of music recorded His music has been played in concert by the BBC Concert Orchestra and I Musici de Montréal. and by several non-professional and youth orchestras, most notably the National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain, for which he has composed a number of pieces. Curtis was commissioned to compose for the English Music Festival in 2008, and his "Festival Overture" opened the final concert of the event. Curtis is probably best known for