Based on the life of the powerful German prince Henry the Lion, the opera was first performed on 30 January 1689 in Hannover to inaugurate the new royal theatre in the Leineschloss (Leine Palace).
The first building on the site was a Franciscan friary, constructed in about 1300, which was abandoned in 1533 after the Protestant Reformation.
He also designed the bridge from the Leineschloss across the Leine River and the Neustädter Kirche, built 1667 to 1670 as an early aisleless church.