LEONCE UND LENA

byGeorg Büchner.

Premiered 1895. Büch-ner's only comedy is a satire on the scores of small duchies and the princelings who ruled them in the German Confederation of his day. The young aristocratic couple of the title are engaged to be married to prospective partners they have never met nor even seen. They both run away from home, meet each other by chance, and fall in love. Officials from their parents' respective courts return them back home for the appointed marriage ceremonies, yet both Leonce and Lena remain ignorant of each others' true identities. Masked during the wedding ceremony, they discover only at the end that they have married each other. Amid general rejoicing, Leonce determines to rule his duchy as a kind of fantasy empire where true love can flourish.