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
Composer of the Week Composer of the Week Composer of the Week is a long-running biographical music programme broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Originally This Week's Composer, it was first broadcast on 2 August 1943 on the BBC Home Service, transferring to the BBC Third Programme in 1964 and changing title to "Composer of the Week" in 1988. In terms of longevity, it is only surpassed by "Desert Island Discs" (first heard on 29 January 1942). The programme is broadcast daily from Monday to Friday, each week being a series of five programmes dedicated to a particular composer or a group of related composers.