Hubert Parry was a Gloucestershire squire born and bred, and his family had strong influence over the administration of the Three Choirs Festival, which assisted Parry in receiving frequent commissions for works to be performed at this Festival. Worcester was the site of the Three Choirs Festival in 1893, and on September 13 of that year Parry conducted the premiere of Overture to an Unwritten Tragedy. At the first performance the work was listed as "Orchestral Piece" in the printed program and no indication of the form or the tragic significance of the work was suggested, although Parry had written "for an unwritten tragedy" at the top of the manuscript score. The work was given only a moderate reception, particularly because the critics questioned the meaning of the work, and Parry was disappointed. It was performed in London after revision at a concert on April 19, 1894 by the Philharmonic Society and the reception was again only moderate. Parry revised the work again in 1897 and then again in 1905 before he finally allowed it to be the first of his orchestral works ever published. Novello published it under the title Overture to an Unwritten Tragedy in 1906.

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