Shortly after he completed his tragic opera Der Diktator, Ernst Krenek started work on another one-act opera whose subtitle (Märchenoper – fairy tale opera) already suggests that it is set in an entirely different world, with regard to both the message and the music. Today, Das geheime Königreich would probably be described as a “green” work: it proclaims the advantages of life away from power, away from towns, away from civilisation – amidst nature, the secret kingdom where the tortured ruler in Krenek’s libretto finally finds peace.