Reimann wrote the title role specifically for the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who had suggested the subject to the composer as early as 1968.

The world premiere, in a production by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle with Fischer-Dieskau in the title role, occurred at the National Theatre Munich on 9 July 1978, with Gerd Albrecht conducting.

[2] The US premiere, in English translation, was presented by the San Francisco Opera in June 1981, with Thomas Stewart as Lear, under Gerd Albrecht.

[3][4][5] The Paris premiere took place in November 1982, in a French translation by Antoinette Becker.

In addition, compared to the Shakespeare original, the parts of Kent and Edmund, for example, have been greatly reduced.