Daniel Auber scored his first public success with a 3-act opéra-comique in 1820 and from then, until his death in 1871, he held a leading position in the field.

He achieved lasting successes with such works as Fra Daviolo (1831), Le domino noir (1837) and Les diamants de la couronne (1847).

One of his most significant and dramatic works is La meutte de Portici: the tenor-baritone duet in Act II supposedly set off a patriotic fervour that precipitated the Belgian struggle for independence from Holland in 1830.

Auber's last work was produced in 1868, when he was 87 years old.