 In the autumn of 1862, Maýr was appointed the first director/principal conductor of the Provisional Theatre, to the disappointment of Bedřich Smetana, who had hoped for the position himself.The theatre opened on 18 November 1862, with a performance of Vítězslav Hálek's tragic drama "King Vakusin".Since there was at the time no Czech opera deemed suitable, the first opera performed at the theatre, on 20 November 1862, was Cherubini's "Les deux journées".