It premiered on 28 December 1927 at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie with sets designed by Pablo Picasso and costumes by Coco Chanel.

Prior to Antigone, he had composed film scores and incidental music for plays as well as an oratorio, Le roi David, which he called a "dramatic psalm" and premiered in 1921.

Both Cocteau and Milhaud had called the work "treasonous" for its failure to adhere to the progressive principles of modern theatre and music which they espoused.

"[4] Antigone was first performed as a play at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris in 1922 with sets by Picasso, costumes by Coco Chanel, and incidental music by Honegger.

[6] Instead, it premiered at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie on 28 December 1927 in a triple bill with Le pauvre matelot and Shéhérazade[clarification needed] using the sets by Picasso and costumes by Coco Chanel that had been designed for the 1922 performance of the play.

[9] Honegger wrote in the preface of the score about his intention to "envelop the drama with a tight symphonic construction without the movement seeming heavy.