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 Consecration of the House (overture) body of the overture, but which instead gives way to a sonata-allegro form. The trumpets and drums resume, leading to an interlude connecting finally with the body of the overture: a fugal "Allegro" (referred to by Schindler) at the work's centre, in both single and double counterpoint. Different groups of instruments enter in turn, producing a fugal texture. The theme appears in the first violins, flute, and oboe, and a counter theme in the second violins and clarinets. This section crescendos rapidly, and – following the recapitulation – a forceful coda brings the overture to a brilliant close. The overture