Viktor Ullmann was born on 1 January 1898 in Cieszyn (Teschen), which belonged then to Austrian Silesia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As an assimilated Jew, his father, Maximilian, was able to pursue a career as a professional officer in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Five years later, for the orchestral arrangement of this work, he was awarded the Hertzka Prize, named in honor of the former director of Universal Edition.

As a result of his interest in anthroposophy, a movement founded by Rudolf Steiner, he spent another two years as a bookseller in Stuttgart, but was forced to flee Germany in mid-1933 and returned to Prague as a music teacher and journalist.

Dissonant harmonics, highly charged musical expression, and masterly control of formal structure are characteristic of Ullmann's new and henceforth unmistakable personal style.

"[3] Overall, Ullmann "probably made the most significant contribution of any single individual to the musical life of Terezin", composing 20 works in the camp.

Its premiere was planned for Theresienstadt in the autumn of 1944, conducted by Rafael Schachter, but it is believed that the SS commander noticed similarities between the Emperor of Atlantis and Adolf Hitler and suppressed it.

Other works include the song-cycle "Man and his Day" to poems by Ullmann's friend, the poet and later historian of Theresienstadt, H. G. Adler.

Since 1993 it is possible to perform the original version of the opera with the help of Karel Berman, based on his Terezin rolebook and the musicologist Ingo Schultz.

This production used also Ullmann's original title "The Emperor of Atlantis or The Disobedience of Death" and has been recorded by the Prague label STUDIO MATOUS in 1994/1995.

In an apparent breach of contract the AAG subsequently deposited them with the Paul-Sacher-Stiftung [de], Basel, where they are currently being held illegally, prior to the preparation of a legally valid loan agreement.

[10] In the middle of 1942, shortly before his deportation to Theresienstadt concentration camp, Ullmann drew up a comprehensive list of his compositions to that point.

Ullmann's list of works is of incalculable value in light of the lost or missing compositions, although it makes clear the full extent of the loss caused by persecution and war.

The order of titles is essentially chronological and takes account both of compositions known from earlier lists of works as well as of those bibliographically recorded.

These references occur only in connection with the "Schönberg Variations", which in relation to the opus numeration and to the chronology cut across the principle of arrangement used.