Johan Wagenaar began his musical career in his native Utrecht, where he played violin in the local orchestra and later became well known as the organist at Utrecht Cathedral. In 1892, when he was thirty, he moved to Berlin to study with was Brahms's lifelong friend, the Vienna-born composer and conductor Heinrich von Herzogenberg. Rostand's play was premiered in 1897 and six years later Wagenaar wrote the concert overture that would turn out to be his biggest hit. It recalls the spirit and style of Richard Strauss whom Wagenaar openly admired, and it captures both the heroicism and poetic character of Rostand's hero.