1871.

As Wagner's subsequent efforts have greatly surpassed this first
work, 'Rienzi' is not often played, and has seldom been produced
in America, I believe owing principally to its great length.
The scene of 'Rienzi' is laid entirely in the streets and Capitol
of Rome, in the middle of the fourteenth century, when the city
was rendered unsafe by the constant dissensions and brawls among
the noble families. Foremost among these conflicting elements
were the rival houses of Colonna and Orsini, and, as in those
days each nobleman kept an armed retinue within a fortified
enclosure in town, he soon became a despot. Fearing no one,
consulting only his own pleasure and convenience, he daily
sallied forth to plunder, kidnap, and murder at his will.
Such being the state of affairs, the streets daily flowed
with blood; the merchants no longer dared open their shops and
expose their wares lest they should be summarily carried away,
and young and pretty women scarcely dared venture out of their
houses even at noonday, lest they should be seen and carried
away by noblemen.

Terrified by the lawlessness of the barons, whom he could no
longer control, the Pope left Rome and took refuge at Avignon,
leaving the ancient city a helpless prey to the various political
factions which were engaged in continual strife. This state of
affairs was so heart-rending that Rienzi, an unusually clever man
of the people and an enthusiast, resolved to try and rouse the
old patriotic spirit in the breast of the degenerate Romans,
and to induce them to rise up against their oppressors and
shake off their hated yoke.

Naturally a scholar and a dreamer, Rienzi would probably never
have seen the necessity of such a thing, or ventured to attempt
it, had he not seen his own little brother wantonly slain
during one of the usual frays between the Orsini and Colonna
factions. The murderer, a scion of the Colonna family, considered
the matter as so trivial that he never even condescended to
excuse himself, or to offer any redress to the injured parties,
thus filling Rienzi's heart with a bitter hatred against all the
patrician race. Secretly and in silence the young enthusiast
matured his revolutionary plans, winning many adherents by his
irresistible eloquence, and patiently bided his time until a
suitable opportunity occurred to rally his partisans, openly
defy the all-powerful barons, and restore the old freedom and
prosperity to Rome.

The opera op