Faust Overture Faust Overture The Faust Overture is a concert overture by German composer Richard Wagner. Wagner originally composed it between 1839 and 1840, intending it to be the first movement of a "Faust Symphony" based on the play "Faust" by German playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Realizing that he would not finish the planned symphony, Wagner revised the piece between 1843 and 1844, incorporating ideas from the other planned movements, and creating instead a single-movement concert overture. He made a final revision in 1855. The work is one of Wagner's few compositions intended for the concert hall, rather than the theatre.
The Building of the House opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London which took place earlier the same year. The Building of the House The Building of the House, op. 79 is an "overture with or without chorus" by Benjamin Britten written in 1967. The overture is notable for the use of Asian-influenced heterophony. The optional text is taken from Psalm 127, adapted by Imogen Holst from "The Whole Book of Psalms (set in English)". It is set using the chorale melody Vater unser im Himmelreich. The piece was written for the inauguration of the Snape Maltings concert hall, which took place in June