Schreker's remarkable opera, with its collage of sounds in the second act, as different levels of music are superimposed, was an influential work in its time and it is largely through an accident of politics that it has only recently found a place again in current repertoire. Historically it came into being following Richard Strauss's Salome, a work that opened new possibilities of eroticism.

The young composer Fritz strives towards the distant sound of his ambition. Grete seeks escape from her drunken father and nagging mother with him, but he leaves her. An old woman briefly intervenes to offer help, before Graumann comes home from the inn, with his friends. It seems he has wagered his daughter's hand on a game of skittles and lost to the landlord of The Swan. Grete escapes from home and finds herself in a wood, where she falls asleep, to be found by the old woman. The second scene is set on an island in the bay of Venice in an establishment, where the girls entertain their clients. Here Greta exercises her fascination over the men, who compete for her attention. She offers herself as a prize, as the Count and Chevalier offer their songs. As she teases them, Fritz reaches the island: he has given up his search for the distant sound, but has, instead, sought out Grete. At last realises that he is in a brothel, and rushes away.

The last act opens in the garden of a bar near the theatre, where the actor and Dr Vigelius of the first act meet. Grete, now a prostitute, is brought on, fainting, having been to the theatre, where The Distant Sound has been performed, Fritz's work. As members of the audience leave the theatre, it is clear that the work was a disaster. The last scene, in Fritz's study, brings a final meeting with Grete, who comforts him as he hears again the magic sounds and falls dead.