The overture to the operetta "The two Savoyards" represents the period in which operettas written by Jacques Offenbach in the 19th century triggered the development of an independent Viennese operetta. Offenbach opened the second summer season of his theatre in Paris in 1856 with the one-act "Le 66" (German: "Nummer 66").

The play came to Vienna only a few years later, where it fell on fertile ground, because the Carltheater and the Theater an der Wien had meanwhile proved to be the instituti...