The great German composer Richard Wagner was one of the major creative figures of the nineteenth century, whose crowning achievement was the creation of Bayreuth and the monumental Der Ring. This collection of overtures dates mainly from Wagner’s early twenties when the composer was learning his craft in provincial opera houses under the influence of Berlioz, Meyerbeer and Weber. They are expertly written works with unmistakable signs of the mastery of orchestration and exuberance of melodic invention that were to follow. The concluding Faust overture, originally intended as the opening movement of a proposed Faust Symphony, was completed in 1855.