Das weite Land

weite Land, Das, a play (Tragikomödie) by A. Schnitzler, written in 1910 and first performed at the Lessing-Theater, Berlin, in October 1911. It portrays promiscuous middle-class society during the holiday months at Baden nr. Vienna.

Friedrich Hofreiter, a notorious coureur de femmes, deceives his wife with a young woman, Erna von Aigner. Frau Hofreiter, in turn, has an affair with a naval cadet, Otto Meinhold-Aigner, Erna's half-brother; when their liaison becomes public, a duel is arranged between Hofreiter and Otto. It is intended to be a mere formality, but Hofreiter, jealous of Otto's youth, shoots him dead. He feels no remorse, and is only concerned to escape the consequences.