The original two-act version was given a simultaneous premiere in Frankfurt and Vienna on 15 March 1913.
Although it failed to repeat the success of Schreker's previous opera Der ferne Klang, the Vienna production caused a scandal which only helped to make Schreker's name more widely known and consolidate his reputation as one of Vienna's foremost modernists.
[1] The premiere of the revised one-act version took place on 30 October 1920 at the National Theater Munich conducted by Bruno Walter.
[1] The prelude, under the title Vorspiel zur Oper 'Das Spielwerk', can be performed separately.
[2] Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin: Thomas Johannes Mayer, Julia Henning, Hans-Jürgen Schöpflin, Matthias Klein, Anne-Carolyn Schlüter, Hans Georg Ahrens, Bernd Gebhardt, Jörg Sabrowski, Jakob Zethner, Paul McNamara, Martin Fleitmann, Kieler Opernchor, Kinderchor Kiel, Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel, Ulrich Windfuhr 2003, Classic Production Osnabrück.