French composer Daniel-Françoise-Esprit Auber (1782-1871) was the son of a Paris print-seller, and his father had originally expected young Daniel to follow in that profession. But Auber’s father also allowed young Auber to pursue his musical interests and talents, and he eventually attemped a career in music, primarily as a composer. He studied composition for a while, enjoyed some success, and even began study with the legendary Luigi Cherubini, Head of the Paris Conservatory. Auber unfortunately suffered a discouraging lack of success with his attempts at opera, and returned to his father’s business. In 1819, after the failure of the business, and the death of his father, Auber, now aged 37, returned again to composition. With the opera La Bergère Chatalaine, Auber started a string of impressive successes, primarily in the genre of comic opera. An approximate contemporary of Rossini, Auber was influenced by the younger composer. The early 20th century Hungarian musicologist Adolph Kohut described Auber’s style as  an individual one, marked by lightness and facility, sparkling vivacity, grace and elegance, clear and piquant melody—characteristically French.”

Auber eventually succeeded Cherubini as director of the Conservatory, on appointment from Napoleon III.

Auber’s most successful comedy was Fra Diavolo, which premiered on January 28, 1830. Drawing from his early successful opera, Le Séjour Militaire, Auber once again used the comical aspects of military life in the plot. The story centers on an historical Italian bandit, Michele Pezza, who masqueraded as a marquis and robbed tourists around Naples. The martial music at the beginning of the overture represents Lorenzo, a penniless soldier tasked to catch the bandit. Fra Diavolo received its American premiere on October 17, 1831, in New York. English musicologist Hugh MacDonald has characterized Fra Diavolo as "the most successful work of its kind before Offenbach.”