Leonce und Lena
Leonce und Lena, a comedy written by G. Büchner between February and July 1836 as an entry for a competition for the best German comedy, sponsored by the publisher Cotta; it was too late to qualify. Büchner revised the play in the autumn and winter of 1836-7. Gutzkow published it after Büchner's death in the Telegraph für Deutschland in May 1838, but edited the first act in fragmentary form. Ludwig Büchner published the complete work (possibly with alterations) in the Nachgelassene Schriften of 1850. Its first performance in May 1895 was organized by M. Halbe and produced by E. von Wolzogen in Munich. Büchner drew from a variety of sources, among which Ponce de Leon by C. Brentano and Fantasio by Alfred de Musset are most conspicuous, while the motto for the first act acknowledges the inspiration of Shakespeare's As You Like It (‘O! that I were a fool’).
The plot shows us the eponymous hero and heroine, a prince and a princess, in protest against an enforced political marriage before they have even seen one another. Both escape from their respective petty courts in the imaginary states of Popo and Pipi, meet by chance at night and fall in love, unaware of each other's identity. After vainly inviting Lena, his ideal of nature's beauty (‘flower’), to share in a Liebestod and seeking death by drowning, Leonce accepts the bet of Valerio the court fool that the prince will marry his still unidentified love at his father's (King Peter's) court. Wearing mask upon mask Valerio presents Leonce and Lena, who likewise appear in disguise and consent to stand in for the missing bride and bridegroom, so that the marriage ceremony can go ahead by proxy. When they remove their masks after the wedding they find in fact that they have married their own choice. Leonce will henceforth initiate his fairyland rule with Lena as his queen and Valerio as his minister.
The play is a satire on several levels, making fun of literature, philosophy (in King Peter), the petty states of the German Confederation, and the corruption of the ruling classes; and its ironic motto (Alfieri: E la fama? Gozzi: E la fame?) touches on Büchner's familiar theme of poverty and starvation. The lightness of touch fits this deliberate incursion into the absurd.
