By the 1860s, the operettas of French composer Jacques Offenbach were becoming popular with the Viennese audience. Franz von Suppe, already established in the Austrian Imperial capital as an operetta composer and conductor, found the new competition stimulating enough to produce a two-act operetta based upon the classic tale of the sculptor Pygmalion falling in love with his statue of Galatea. The first performance was given in Berlin on June 30, 1863 with the Vienna premiere at the Carltheater on September 9, 1865. Die schöne Galathée proved to be one of the composer's most successful, with performances in London and New York. Though the operetta is largely forgotten now, Suppe's brilliant overture has never left the concert repertoire.