The opera has always been the central focus of musical life in Vienna. The Court Opera or Hofoper which stands today on the Opernring has its origins in another building, the Kärntnertortheater, whose site is now occupied by the Hotel Sacher. This original theatre was built in 1763 but by 1857 Emperor Franz Josef had plans laid to demolish the walls, gates and narrow streets of the inner city and to broaden them into wide boulevards in concentric rings. As part of this plan, the Kärntnertortheater had to go and a new opera house was built on one of the ring roads. It was run on the Italian stagione system: in other words, operas were staged in seasons. In the decade of the 1840s, the French repertoire dominated the German by two to one (45 French operas to 23 German and 25 Italian) but the amount of Italian works was to increase dramatically and Wagner's operas would spearhead the revival of German operatic fortunes. The Kärntnertortheater was the theatre in which Hans Richter began his professional musical career as a horn player in September 1862 and from whose orchestra he was plucked by Kapellmeister Esser in March 1866 and sent to Wagner in the autumn of the same year.

By the time he returned to the city some eight years later the scene was radically different. Matteo Salvi had directed the last years of the Kärntnertortheater and had established the works of Gounod and Meyerbeer in the city. His successor was Franz Dingelstedt, who staged Gluck's Iphigenia in Aulis in Wagner's version, brought Gounod to conduct his Roméo et Juliette and staged Thomas’ Mignon, both in 1868. Dingelstedt's post fell vacant after the opening of the new opera house, which took place on 25 May 1869 with Don Giovanni. The Kärntnertortheater closed in April 1870 with Rossini's William Tell. As director he had increased the opera orchestra to 111 men led by three conductors, Heinrich Proch, Heinrich Esser and Otto Dessoff. Proch and Esser retired in 1870 and, because Dessoff was preoccupied as director of the Philharmonic concerts, Dingelstedt appointed Johann Herbeck in 1869. It was Herbeck who took over as director in April 1870.