The architect of the Zwinger, Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, was also responsible for the opera house situated next to its south-western pavilion.

The building replaced the first opera house of Dresden, the Opernhaus am Taschenberg, which was transformed to a church.

[1] The three-tier hall seated up to 2000 people and was at the time one of the largest opera houses in Europe.

The first performance was on 3 September 1719 Antonio Lotti's Giovi in Argo, followed on 13 September by the premiere of Lotti's Teofane on the occasion of the wedding of prince Friedrich August II, later the elector and as August III king of Poland, and Maria Josepha of Austria.

The house flourished when he, an opera enthusiast, reigned as elector, and Johann Adolph Hasse was musical director.