Political and cultural circumstances - depending on whether Lorraine/Lothringen belonged to France or Germany - made Théodore Gouvy a border crosser between these two countries.

It was very unusual for a French composer of his generation not to assign a central role to music theater in his oeuvre. His rejection of Wagner’s music dramas also made him something of an exception in France. It is true, however, that the oratorio was a key genre within his oeuvre - and the oratorio at least can be counted as a dramatic genre.

Gouvy wrote six major oratorio compositions, two based on Nordic subjects and two drawing on ancient tragedies. His Iphigénie en Tauride was published in 1884 in a bilingual edition issued by Breitkopf in Leipzig. It was also in Leipzig that the premiere was held. The critics were very favorably impressed: "The emotional content of the persons portrayed also stirs our modern feelings; the suffering of Iphigénie, Oreste, and the captive Greeks comes to expression in profoundly moving tone paintings."