Grove Music Online states that Partch originally used W. B. Yeats' translation for his libretto, and it was with this text that the work was first heard as King Oedipus in 1952 (ID 9499). Partch had already prepared a musical outline by 1934, and in that year secured the poet’s approval in Dublin. The project could not be realized until 1951, however, and after the 1952 performances he found that the Yeats estate would not permit a recording; accordingly, he prepared a new libretto from non-copyright sources, modernizing and Americanizing the language, and revised the score. This version was first performed in 1954 (ID 9500). In 1967 Partch further revised the score, modifying the instrumentation.