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
The Consecration of the House (overture) August von Kotzebue's play of the same name, for the dedication of a new theatre in Pest. This same work was to be performed again in 1822 for the new theatre in Vienna. However, Carl Meisl, the commissioner of the Royal Imperial Navy, changed the texts of numbers 1, 6, 7, and 8 of Beethoven's work. Beethoven was not pleased with the revision, and felt that the new text did not fit the music. Meisl also introduced a section, "Wo sich die Pulse", for which Beethoven wrote new music (WoO 98). Beethoven wrote a completely new overture for the work,