In 1858, Offenbach wrote his first three-act operetta, Orphée aux enfers, spoofing the neoclassical vogue of the Second Empire under Napoleon III. The operetta parodies the story of Orpheus, whose bride, Eurydice, dies on their wedding day. By means of his amazing musical talent, Orpheus wins her back from the underworld only to lose her again by looking back at her before reaching the surface.

It was scandalous. Offenbach was accused of denigrating classical antiquity, the Emperor, the government, and the prevailing social order. Predictably, the negative publicity made for soaring ticket sales, with his operettas influencing Gilbert and Sullivan, Franz Lehár, and the musical comedies of the twentieth century. With the fall of the Emperor and the changing political and social climate, Offenbach had to revise the operetta extensively in 1874. The overture is not entirely by Offenbach but compiled by Carl Binder, a minor Austrian operetta composer. He started with the overture Offenbach wrote and added to it the famous violin solo from Act I and the famous cancan at the end of Act IV.