Czibulka was another of the generation of popular musicians who thrived during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A Hungarian born in present day Slovakia he went to Vienna in 1865 where he conducted the orchestra at the Carltheater. He went on to Prague where he was twice a bandmaster, but actually spent most of his life in Vienna. There he conducted concerts in the Rotunde, the huge circular building constructed in Vienna for the World Exhibition of 1873, and he later became more widely known for his salon pieces including the Stephanie Gavotte. With over 300 works and six operettas to his name he was one of the heavyweights amongst the popular composers of the time.