Rienzi in April/May 2009 and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Oper Leipzig in April/May 2010. In July 2013, the bicentennial year of Wagner's birth, performances of all three of Wagner's early operas, including "Rienzi", took place for the first time at Bayreuth, at the Oberfrankenhalle. This performance trimmed some parts, including the second-act ballet. The Australian premiere was a concert performance by Melbourne Opera in December 2013, as part of the bicentennial celebrations. The opera opens with a substantial overture which begins with a trumpet call (which in act 3 we learn is the war call of the Colonna family)
Edward German copies. German was by then in great demand to write music for plays. His commissions included Henry Arthur Jones's "The Tempter" in 1893, Johnston Forbes-Robertson's "Romeo and Juliet" at the Lyceum in 1895, Herbert Beerbohm Tree's productions of "As You Like It" (1896) and "Much Ado about Nothing" (1898), and Anthony Hope's "English Nell" (later known as "Nell Gwynn") in 1900, starring Marie Tempest. At the same time, German was writing music for the concert hall, sometimes adapting music from his theatrical scores. His "Gypsy Suite" met with success similar to that of his overture to "Richard III" and his